Pokemon Lavender
by twylock
Summary: Brave Leonheart wants to catch them all and be the greatest Pokémon trainer ever. Unfortunately, she'll have to stick to catching the 99 freed spirits that escaped from Lavender Town's endless horde of graves. But what about the Ghost who set them free? How can she defeat the infamously powerful Lumiose Ghost Girl? And who is this new Pokémon Laverous? (Please R & R! - )
1. Chapter 01

You don't have to believe what I'm saying. Most of the time _I _can't even really believe what I'm saying. But if you want to read this, read on. You might learn a little something. And if you don't read this, well, I can't blame you for being uninterested. I'm uninterested in most of the stuff I write or read too. But if you, reader, make the choice of putting this story away and never touching it again, it will all end there. No troubles, no worries. If you, with your free will, choose to read ahead, then this is something you'll be a part of. No turning back. Whether you want to be a part of this or not is up to you. You are you, and no one can stop you from being so. But with either choice you make, know this;

You are being watched.

Good luck.

-Sincerely, Someone Who Knows

**Pokemon Lavender**

**Prologue**

_"Not all people have happy endings, and even the people who have happy endings don't get perfect ones."_

_I looked up at the teenage girl. She had waist-length long, dark purple hair, and a matching Victorian-like dress that was so long it was near her ankles. Her shadow filled lavender eyes seemed empty and saddened, so much so that I flinched at the sight of them, feeling a horrid sense of dread..._

_She saw I was flipping through the pages of a fairytale book, seeing the final page that read "And they all lived happily ever after."_

_"Huh? What do you mean?" I asked._

_The girl sighed mournfully. "You'll understand when you're older." She looked up to the sky._

_I laughed in misunderstanding. "What? I think I get it already!"_

_The purple girl tilted her head in amusement. "Oh, do you now?"_

_"Yeah! Happy endings aren't always perfect because people don't always get what they want! Like, one time, me and my Mama couldn't get the type of food we wanted at a cafe because it was too expensive!"_

_The teenager giggled softly, then patted my head. Then, she dropped something tiny into my palms._

_"A...candy?" I held the small treat in my tiny hands._

_"A _rare _candy," the girl said, standing up. She walked away from me, looking like a shadow crawling across a wall, barely noticed, but when seen, spooky, wispy, and dark..._

_Wanting to ask for her name, I got up to follow her as she walked around the corner of a building and into an alleyway. But when I caught up to the alleyway, the girl...disappeared._

_My father walked out of the house I had previously been sitting in front of, and he turned to see me looking confused. "What's the matter, Brave?"_

_I looked back at him, then to the candy in my hand. I silently prayed that sad girl would be happy someday. She was wrong...anyone could have a happy ending, no matter what. I would do my best to make sure of that._

_"...It's nothing." I took the hand of my father and looked up at the Pokemon snuggled against his chest, resting peacefully. Perhaps, I thought, it's a Cubone? I wasn't good at naming Pokemon back then..._

_A sudden thought burst into my mind. "By the way, Daddy, what's this town called again?"_

_He smiled down at me. "Lavender Town."_

**Chapter 1**

_**Ten Years Later**_

"Pleeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaase?"

"No."

"_Pleeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaase?_"

"No is no, Brave!"

"Why? What do you have against me for wanting to do this?" I said.

"I don't have anything against you, honey, it's just..." My mother got a worried look upon her face.

"...Just what?"

"...I can't just send you off into the world like that! You're only fourteen, for god's sake! And to think that other parents send their kids off at an even younger age!"

"Come on, Mama! I was qualified to be a Trainer _four years ago_ and you still haven't let me become one!"

"But Brave, haven't you seen what's been going on the past few years? Trainers just ten-years old being targeted by the mafia!"

"It's Team Rocket, Mom."

"Whatever they're called, these gangs are popping up everywhere! Team Rocket, Team Plasma, Team, uh...oh, it's always something weird..."

"Most of these gangs you say are so dangerous were defeated by young Trainers, and after that, the teams dismantled! So why can't I become a Trainer?"

"It's too dangerous, honey. Even without the gangs, you'll still have to fend for yourself against wild Pokemon that may hurt you, or you could starve trying to find food, or you could get lost in the regions, or get kidnapped, or-"

"Mama!" I yelled. "I'll be okay! Don't worry!"

"I'm sorry, but I can't just let you be alone in the world. Maybe when you're older, okay?"

I groaned. "You've being saying that for the past four years!"

"I'm sorry, Brave, I know you want to go have fun, but it's too risky. I don't want my baby getting hurt."

I understood my mother and why she would be scared about letting me out into the world on my own to become a Pokemon Trainer, but...it just sounds like so much fun to be a Trainer! I've been looking forward to it for so long...

"Wait," I said, "what if I wasn't alone?"

"What do you mean?" My mother said, clinking pots and pans as she began to make dinner.

"What if someone were to watch over me and make sure I would be safe while I trained?"

"Well..." My mother thought it over. "You know your father has to go to work everyday, and I have to stay home and watch Cubone..." She said as Cubone sat on the couch with my father, watching the evening news.

"Well, maybe someone else could watch me!" I said. "Maybe Grandpa or Grandma?"

My mother sighed once more. "I don't know..."

I huffed and went to sit with my father on the couch, watching the TV. The man reporting the news switched to another topic.

"In today's news," He began, "Parents across the regions have complained to the government for years about how it's 'cruel' and 'unwise' to send out children to become trainers at such a young age, especially when they're alone with no one to watch over them. Well, these parents' pleas are finally being answered. Soon-to-be-Trainers can sign up to get a Pokemon Professor to take care of them and lead them along their journeys so they won't be in harm's way. You can sign up for this option at your local Pokemon Center. In other news, a boy is stalked for his Pikachu for nearly a decade by two gangsters who haven't yet realized their gang has dismantled. What do the many Officer Jenny's have to say about it? Story after this..."

My eyes sparkled and a smile grew along my face. "Oh no..." My mother said, as she heard the news.

Before I could begin begging on my knees, a loud knock came from the front door. My father opened it to reveal a woman with short brown hair and an Asian man both dressed in business clothing. The scent of cheap perfume floated through the air, and it smelled more like hairspray than perfume.

The woman grinned to show teeth that would seem positively flawless if it weren't for her lipstick smudging her pearly whites. "Hi, I'm Meredith Watanabe, and this is my husband Takashi. We're new in town and we were wondering if you could help direct us to the correct place our house should be?"

I looked closer at the couple and saw that even though the woman was happy and sociable, the man was nervous and looked away from everybody. He obviously didn't want to be here, though I wasn't sure why. The wife wore diamond jewelry, and the husband had a fancy-brand watch on his wrist, so they must be loaded.

After my dad helped them for a while, telling what was where, the woman caught a glimpse of Cubone being called to the table to come eat dinner. Mrs. Watanabe curled up the side of her mouth in disgust. "Ugh," she said, "do you let _that thing _eat at the table?!"

My father looked confused. "Yeah, he's a part of our family."

The woman scoffed. "It's a part of your _family_?"

Dad nodded, still not understanding the current situation.

The woman grit her teeth in utter disgust, but huffed and pulled herself together to her former calm glory. "Well, then. I guess we should be taking our leave now-"

"Hey, Mom?"

A boy about my age stood behind the couple. He looked more like his dad than his mother, with black hair and brown eyes. He was dressed in a lot of punky black clothing which made him kinda look like a dork.

"What, dear?"

"The car's acting weird. We should get home before it dies."

Mrs. Watanabe smiled at her son. "Yes honey, we were just about to leave. You know, this family has a girl about your age. Come say hello!"

The boy met eyes with me, then rolled his eyes as he apparently wasn't impressed and went back to his car. His mother followed behind, leaving Mr. Watanabe to stand alone awkwardly for a moment before he finally excused himself.

My father locked the door behind them. My mother stood awkwardly behind him. "They seem..." She tried to look for the right word. "..._nice_."

I laughed nervously. "She's a real hoot-and-a-half, huh?"

My father nodded in agreement. "She better not come around here again. _Nobody _talks shit about _my _Cubone."

"Now that they're gone..." I cut in, "We have our answer! We can get a professor to watch over me!" I gasped excitedly. "I could get Professor Maple to help me! We've known him for years and could totally trust him to help me train!"

My parents looked at each other, then whispered back and forth for a couple of minutes, trying to make a decision. "Well..." My father finally responded. "If Professor Maple is up to it...then yes."

I screamed with delight. I started jumping up and down and hugged and kissed my parents. "Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! You don't even know how happy you've made me!"

"_But_," My mother began, "if Professor Maple doesn't want to, then he doesn't have to."

"I know."

"And if he's says yes, you will be on your best behavior. No whining, and always watch your back! Never lose sight of Mr. Maple or get lost! Always keep close to him! Don't talk to strangers or go anywhere with weird people and brush your teeth every night-"

"-I think she gets it, dear." My father said.

My mom sighed. "I'll miss you so much, Brave."

I frowned. "I'll miss you too."

While we were sharing this emotional conversation, Cubone burped at the table, sucking every chicken-bone dry of its meat and licking the vegetables off of his plate. He sighed in delight as he squeaked at my mother as a thank-you for the meal.

...

For once, I actually set on the alarm on my clock and was delighted to hear it beeping in the morning, awakening me to what I hoped would be the greatest day of my life. I jolted up, pulling my short, mousy brown hair into a ponytail and slipped on a pair of black tights underneath the shorts I put on. A long sleeved, pale yellow shirt sat on my chest, and aqua boots made to look like tall tennis shoes were fitted onto my feet.

I shoved six Pokeballs into my backpack, running down the stairs to tell my parents goodbye before heading out on my journey. It was finally time, the day I would become a Trainer and live out my greatest dreams!

My name is Brave Leonhart, and my story begins now!

...

I went to Professor Maple's house to meet up with him and start our trip. I knocked on the front door and was greeted by his wife.

"Good morning! Is Mr. Maple ready yet?"

His wife smiled. "Yep! I'll get him for you..."

"No need for that!" Professor Maple called from the top of his house's staircase. "I'll be down in a moment, Miss Brave! I can't wait to-whoa..._whoa-_"

I screeched as Professor Maple came tumbling down the staircase, hitting every stair as he fell. Once he reached the bottom, he was twisted in a funny position, telling you he probably had some broken bones.

He was still alive though, as you could hear him moan, "_Ow_..."

**...**

**So, in the past couple of months, even though I never thought I'd be one, I've become a Pokemon nerd. I'm obsessed with all of the spooky stuff in Pokemon like the ghosts in each gen and the Lavender Town conspiracy theories. Of course I'm not a hardcore believer of the theories, but it sounds fun to write about. That's why I'd like to write a story about merely the spooky, unusual, and surprisingly terrifying tidbits that you may not have noticed in the Pokemon games. Once everything in the story gets settled, the character Brave will investigate something different each chapter, and in each chapter the thing being looked into will be something creepy from the games that wasn't really focused on, like the ghosts in the mansion from Diamond and Pearl, or the ORAS Ghost girl, or something like that. I apologize for rambling on like this, I just didn't want anyone to be confused about the plot. I'm going to really invest myself in this story, so please tell me if you liked it or not, or if there's something you think I should change. Thanks for reading! I really appreciate it! ^-^**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Will he be okay?" My mother asked one of the men bringing Professor Maple into the ambulance.

The man shrugged. "I dunno. I just drive the ambulance."

"_Brave_," The Professor said with a hoarse voice.

"Yes, Professor?"

"I...I will send another Professor...to chaperone you..."

"Please, sir, don't speak. It's okay."

"No...I need to warn you...he's very capable-" Professor Maple coughed. "-Of taking care of you...just...beware...he's a little _off_-"

At that point, the driver shut the doors and prevented me from speaking to the Professor any longer. The ambulance dashed off to the nearest hospital, kicking up dust behind it.

Me and my parents stared at each other with worry. "I hope he'll be okay." My father said.

I nodded, walking back to my house in disbelief. The poor guy had a nice trip down the stairs and broke an arm and a leg, twisted an ankle, and busted his jaw. And what did he mean, "Your new chaperone is a little off"? Why would he even have to warn me in the first place? Is my new Professor a sociopath or something?!

It turned out I had to wait until the next day to begin my Trainer's adventure. I was told that I would meet my new Professor in the middle of the Town Square at the water fountain, which is a walking distance away from my home. I walked downstairs (because if I ran I would end up like Professor Maple) and grabbed my things. Before I left, my mother gave me something.

"This is your father's shawl. He wore it when he went on his journey." My mother wrapped the aqua shawl around my shoulders and clipped it together with a pin with a metallic golden star on it.

When she says, "your father", by the way, she means my _first _father, not my second one. See, my first father passed away when my mother was pregnant with me, and when I was a toddler, my mother married my stepfather, who goes by a lot of names; some people call him Gary, some people call him Blue, but his real name is Green. Whatever you wanna call him, _I_ call him Dad, so there.

My mother started tearing up. "Ugh, you're fourteen and you're already leaving home..."

"I'll be back before you know it!"

"Sure you will. Next thing you know, you'll be dating and getting married, having kids, and I'll be a grandmother...jeez, I'm getting old, aren't I?" She sniffled.

My father gave me a hug. "Good luck out there, Brave. You're gonna become a Master Trainer, I just know it!"

My mother was digging through my backpack. "And remember, be nice to your Professor! And brush your teeth every morning and every evening! Here, I'm putting your deodorant in the front pocket so you won't forget it, 'cuz I know you forget to put it on sometimes-"

"-I do _not_!"

"Yes you do! In fact, I can smell your B.O right now!" My mom began rubbing the deodorant on my armpits for me right then and there.

"MAMA! I can do it myself, thank you very much!"

"Mm-hmm. Sure you can. I hope the Professor doesn't call us one day yelling at us about our stinky kid!" My mother kissed my forehead as I frowned. "I'm kidding, honey. Good luck, and don't talk to strangers!"

"Okay."

"And don't take candy from strangers! Even if they say its Rare Candy!"

"Okay!"

"...Just don't associate yourself with strangers at all!"

"Loud and clear!"

I opened the front door to leave.

"I love you! Be careful! And don't talk to strangers!"

"What she said!" My father agreed.

I smiled. "Smell you later,"

"Smell you later," My dad smiled back.

...

I trekked to the center of the town and sat down on the water fountain's edge, waiting for the Professor. I rummaged through my bag and pulled out a Poke Ball, anticipating the moment I would get to use it. I was confused for a moment because I heard the sound of plastic crackling, and I was scared that I broke the Poke Ball. But then I looked to see where the sound was _actually _coming from...

I turned to find a teenage boy walking up to the fountain, unwrapping and eating some kind of hard candy. He had shoulder-length black hair, brown eyes, and he wore gothic clothing...I recognized him from somewhere...

"Are you waiting for the Professor too?" The boy asked.

"Uh...yeah..."

I gawked at the boy and his over-usage of black makeup, eyeliner lining his eye lids and dark eyeshadow to make it look like he had wrinkles and bags under his eyes. He wore a leather jacket, a band t-shirt under his jacket, ripped black skinny jeans and worn-out black sneakers. He held a bag of colorful candies called "Sucker-Punches", and the boy did this annoying hair flip every couple minutes because his bangs were really long. And dang, was he _skinny!_ The only thing he must eat are those candies...

He must have noticed me staring at him, 'cuz he looked grumpy. "Take a picture, it'll last longer."

"I-I'm sorry, it's just...do I know you from somewhere?"

"Yeah, I'm the son of the Poke-phobic woman who came to your house the other night. My mom's a bitch. Sorry 'bout that." The boy popped another candy into his mouth.

"Um...I'm B-Brave..."

"You must not be, seeing as how you keep stuttering."

"No, I mean, my _name_ is Brave. Brave Leonhart."

"Oh. Well then. I'm Zack Watanabe. Want a candy?"

I decided to trust my mom's advice and not take candy from strangers. This guy may have a special kind of candy in his bag just for people he hates, like maybe it's poisoned, or drugged, or spit on... "No thank you."

Zack shrugged. "Whatever."

As I held my Poke Ball, the metallic red on it sparkled in the sunlight. A cool breeze blew through, the autumn weather settling in. Dead leaves scattered across the cobblestone ground, and the smell of pumpkins was carried across the wind...

_SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!_

A van screeched across the road, parking abrubtly in front of me and Zack, who was so surprised he almost choked on his candy. The long van had one of those big fancy paintings that was spray-painted on the side of it; it was a painting of a blue Dragonair, and the big door the painting was on slid to the side as the driver of the van opened it. He was a twenty-something-year old that wore a long white lab coat over a baggy green shirt, jeans, and black flip-flops. He had curly short brown hair, wore glasses and a necklace with a peace-sign shaped charm hanging off it. The smell of pot wafted out of the van.

The man grinned at us. "I'm Professor Bonsai. Pleasure to meet you." He eagerly shook both mine and Zack's hands. "So I'll be the replacement for Professor Maple! I was his assistant, you know! ...until I was fired, but who cares about that? What's in the past is in the past, as I always say! Now, come on! Get in here and let's get started!"

Me and Zack looked at each other. If this guy wasn't on something funny, I'll be a monkey's uncle. I mean, aunt.

Professor Bonsai pulled us into the van and inside were band posters plastered all overs the walls, a string of blue and green lanterns that lit up the inside of the van from wall to wall, and a guitar case that I'm guessing had a guitar in it. Or drugs. I wasn't curious enough to check.

"Where do we sit?" Zack asked Bonsai.

"Hm? Oh, you'll have to sit back there for the time being. Only seat in the van is up here in the driver's area, unless you wanna fight to the death for the passenger seat."

I didn't end up fighting Zack to the death for the only passenger seat, but I did play rock-paper-scissors with him for it. I lost.

Turns out Professor Bonsai wasn't that great a driver. I was smacked up against the walls every time he hit a pothole or tried to dodge a wild Pokemon running across the road. I'm surprised I made it out of that van alive.

I wobbled out of the van dazed and dizzy, while Zack stepped out of it without a care in the world. "Here we are!" Professor Bonsai exclaimed, spreading his arms out wide. "The Virdi-Veridi-V...I think it's called the Viridian Forest! This will be your first training spot and where you'll catch your first Pokemon!"

"I thought we would choose a Starter Pokemon before catching wild Pokemon." I said.

"Yeah, about that-we kind of ran out of Starters, so looks like you guys have to fend for yourselves out there!"

Zack pulled out a Poke Ball from his jacket pocket and let out what looked to be the Fire Starter of the Sinnoh Region; Chimchar. I remembered this guy's mom said they were new in town, so they must be from Sinnoh...

"Oh. Well, we've ran out of starters for the _Kanto _Region, at least. Looks like you'll have to go on your own..." Bonsai looked at smudged writing on one of his hands. "..._Boove_."

"It's Brave."

"Yes, well we all wish our names were brave-sounding, but some aren't, Boove."

"No, my _name _is Brave."

"Sure it is, hon."

"No, I-"

"-LOOK! A Pokemon! Better catch it if you wanna live to see the next day and not get killed by wild Pokemon, Boove!"

I grumbled and pulled a Poke Ball out of my bag and looked to see what kind of Pokemon it was. A Caterpie sat in front of me, so small it looked like it couldn't hurt a fly. Must be easy to catch, right? Nope. Throwing a ball at it only made it angry. It scratched me and bit me all over before it finally ran away.

I tried catching a Pikachu, but it shocked me every time I took a step near it. It was low-level though, so it only felt like static electricity. Even the Metapods hurt me, and they're supposed to be strong defensive Pokemon, not ones with high attack power. If I was bitch-slapped one more time by those weird-wormy-little-green-things I would've screamed.

"Better get a move on, Boove! Zack already caught a Pokemon!"

Zack grinned as he let a Weedle out of his Poke Ball to show to me. He just kept staring at me, expecting some kind of reaction. I scoffed. "Take a picture, it'll last longer." He rolled his eyes at me and finally focused his attention on something else.

It wasn't long before I heard a squeaking noise. "_Eee...Vee..Vee..._"

I looked to see what it was and I saw a weak-looking Eevee limping across a field just outside the forest. It was finally my chance to catch a Pokemon.

It glared at me, as it were saying "How dare you try to advantage of my pain?" I felt bad for doing it, but since I really needed it, I threw a Poke Ball at the fox/rabbit creature. It dodged it, jumping to the side and hitting it with its huge fluffy tail so that it would bounce back and hit me in the face. I picked up the ball and threw it again, still eager to catch the Eevee.

The Pokemon was encapsulated into the ball, and the tension was rising. The ball shook one time...two times...three times...and...suddenly, it was still.

"Alright, Boove! Taking an injured baby creature to your advantage! That's what being a Trainer is all about!" Bonsai cheered.

Later, we left the forest, and Zack had a Weedle _and _a Pikachu _and _a Chimchar. I only had a low HP Eevee. No worries. There's still plenty of other Pokemon in the sea-I mean...fish. Fish Pokemon? Whatever.

We all loaded up into the van once more, and I was pretty sure Zack was either getting a contact high, or was super excited to have Pokemon. The latter seemed more probable. Bonsai started up the vehicle and grinned at me and Zack. "You kids wanna see some ghosts?"

"No, I don't want any drug-induced visions, thank you very much."

"No, not that! I mean..." He leaned in to whisper. "..._Lavender Town_. Wanna visit it?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

When we arrived in Lavender Town, it wasn't the Silent Hill-esque place that Professor Bonsai said it would be. I mean, the town _was_ lavender. He wasn't wrong about that. But the town also seemed very...orange.

A festival raged right near our van, people cheering, dancing, singing, playing carnival games or buying things from booths lined up from one end of the town to the other. All the booths were decorated with purple and orange streamers, and a parade walked through the middle of the road, also with floats adorned with orange and purple. They all seemed to be floats related to things of the dead; skulls, skeletons (human _and_ Pokemon), graveyards, crosses-they had everything you could think up. Halloween colors were everywhere, seeing as how it was close to Halloween.

"They must really love Halloween, huh?" I said.

"Hm? Oh, yes! Lavenderans _love _Halloween-no, they positively ADORE it!" Bonsai smiled.

"But...why?"

"Didn't I tell you already? This place holds this region's BIGGEST Pokemon cemetary! The people of this town are very religious and believe in the afterlife deeply! They celebrate the dead all the time here, especially when Halloween comes around, since it is the day the spirits of the dead are said to return to the living world for a short period of time." Bonsai sighed with content as he looked upon the parade. "You know, this town is named after lavenders because originally, way back when this town was founded, lavenders were the only flowers on hand at the time to bury the dead with..."

Zack didn't stick around long enough to hear Bonsai's little history lesson as he dashed into the huge Halloween party. "I'mgonnagolookaroundisthatokayyeahitisokaybye"

The Professor looked to me. "Well? Don't you wanna go have fun?"

"...Are you sure I can go?"

"Of course! I brought you here to have fun, Boove!" Bonsai smiled and winked at me.

I smiled back and ran into the crowd. There were a lot of people laughing and cheering as the floats drove by. One particular float was Day of the Dead themed, and girls in bright orange spanish dresses either danced on the float or held baskets of candied skulls that would be given to children as they passed by. One girl with golden blond hair met her baby blue eyes with mine and ran over to me to give me a candied skull. She smiled, and teeth like pearls shined through. The girl was so pretty she was positively _dazzling_. It was inhuman how beautiful she was...I mean, it is the Day of the Dead, after all. She could be dead. I never knew being dead meant being movie-star beautiful.

I blushed and took the candy from her. (Sorry, mom.) "T-Thank you..."

The girl winked at me and ran back into the crowd. There were tons of other floats, too-one dedicated to ghost-type Pokemon, one that had the names of every Pokemon buried in Lavender Town carved into it, and one that was dedicated entirely to one Marowak for some reason...? I wasn't quite sure why, but even so the parade was quite the party. I wondered why I hadn't heard of this event before.

"Yo! Champ in the making!"

I turned around to see where the voice was coming from.

"Yeah, you! Come here!"

I looked behind me to see a girl in a small purple booth tucked in between two bigger orange booths. I walked up to her and I saw she had long purple hair, wore a matching Victorian style dress and had dark eyes. A crystal ball sat in front of her, and she had mystical items for sale such as dream-catchers and good-luck charms. I soon realized what Trainer class this girl was in. "You're a Hex Maniac, huh?"

The girl nodded. "Give me your hand."

"Hm? What are you-"

"Don't worry, foolish mortal girl, I will not curse you. Just give your hand."

I awkwardly put my hand out for her. She read my palm and made a sound of approval. "You have a bright future ahead of you. Your Pokemon will become great friends with you, and you have the potential to become a Master Trainer." The smile on the girl's face faded. "However...dark clouds swirl over your future. If you do not act fast and clear them, darkness is sure to curse your happy future."

"Really..." I said in disbelief.

The Hex Maniac looked around like she was trying to make sure no one was listening. "You know...strange things have been happening around this town. The spirits are growing restless."

"Uh-huh..."

"Believe me, mortal girl! Their graves have been disturbed and they seek revenge. These spirits are a part of the dark clouds looming over your future! Beware; if you do not leave this town soon, you will become a victim of the ghosts searching for vengeance!"

"...I suppose you're going to ask for a tip know, huh?"

"Why am I the one telling you your future? You seem to know the future already!"

The girl looked at me with puppy eyes, and she guilted me into slipping her a buck. She laughed happily as I walked away. "But within all honesty, human girl! Beware! _Bewaaaaaaare!_"

"Yeah, sure..."

...

After Zack had ransacked all of the places in the festival you could get candy, he finally came back to meet up with me and Professor Bonsai at a small cafe for lunch. No one but us were in there, I guess since everyone else was outside. A petite waitress came up to us. "Can I take your order?"

Professor Bonsai blushed. "Um...I...uh..." I elbowed him. "Oh! I-I'll have the Daily Special, please!"

After the girl had finished taking our orders and walked away, Bonsai leaned in to whisper to me. "Oh my god, did you SEE her?!"

"What, are you into her?"

"SHHHHHHH! Don't say too loud! This place is super quiet! She could hear!"

"Sorry!"

"Anyways...I've been by this place a couple of times and seen her. Do you think I should ask for her number?"

"I guess it couldn't hurt to ask."

"How should I say it? Should I crack a joke to break the ice?"

"Well, gimme an example of one of your jokes."

"'Are you from Tennessee, 'cuz you're the only ten I see!'"

I inhaled deeply and bit my lip.

"What? Is it a no-go area?"

"...Yeah."

"Then what do I do?!"

I'll laughed nervously. "Be yourself! You'll be fine!"

Bonsai groaned. "I can't just-"

"-Here's your order!"

The Professor gasped in surprise as the waitress set the food on the table. He looked up at the woman, opening his mouth to say something, catching the waitress' attention, but then got to nervous to speak. The waitress just smiled back and walked away.

Bonsai buried his face in his hands. "Ugh, I'm such a dumbass."

"Well...we can try again!"

"What if she says no?"

"Like I said, there's no harm simply _asking!_ If she says no, who cares? There are plenty of other fish in the sea."

"Oh, now you're using the 'other fish in the sea' charade on me, huh?"

I cringed. "I'm sorry, I know it sounds really cliche, but I-"

Suddenly, Bonsai patted me on the back. "Don't sweat it, kid. I was just joking."

"Oh...whoops..."

"You know, you seem like a really good kid, Brave."

"HA! So you DO know my name!"

"Dang it, it just slipped out!"

Zack groaned. "Where's _my _food?..."

Later after everybody was done with their meals, we went with Bonsai to check into a motel for the night. This would be the end of his short time be generous, however, because he said after tonight we all would be winging it, either camping outside or sleeping in the van because if were traveling around in the wild trying to catch Pokemon there would be no hotels to rest at. I had a hard time believing him, since I was sure he just didn't want to spend tons of money every night renting us a room. I couldn't blame him though.

While we were walking to the motel, I saw people dancing and cheering outside of a tall building. It took me moment to realize they weren't cheering-they were _rioting_, yelling things like "This is cruelty to the dead!" or "If you were buried, you wouldn't want your grave to be ruined!"

The Professor tsked. "They're still protesting, even on a day as festive as this."

"What are they upset over?" I asked.

"Remember how I told you this town has a great respect of the dead? Well, that building over there, Pokemon Tower, was once where all the graves of deceased Pokemon were, and then they were all plucked out so that the tower could be turned into a radio tower. The graves were moved to a place called the House of Memories, but now the graves are being moved _again _by the same people who did it last time, and they're planning to tear down the house to build a huge shopping center while the bodies of dead Pokemon are being reburied in a small corner in of this town since no other spots are free."

"That doesn't seem so bad."

"But that's not it," Bonsai continued, "the corner is so small that the Pokemon won't even get their own graves. Basically, what they're going to do is dig up a huge hole and then toss the bodies on top of each other. Then they'll throw some dirt back on top of the Pokemon, like they're burying trash in a landfill." The Professor sighed sadly. "They're carting out the bodies as we speak."

"Oh."

"No wonder they're pissed." Zack said, biting into some cotton candy he got from a booth.

Suddenly, a man in a fancy magenta suit walked out of the front doors of the radio building. Two men walked alongside him, obviously looking like the man's bodyguards since they both were dressed in dark suits and wore dark sunglasses. They were super tall and strong looking, and when the protesters booed and tried to yell at the rich dude, the two bodyguards would scare them off.

"That's Alonzay Magenta," Bonsai said, pointing at the blond man in a fancy dark pink suit. "He's the guy behind all this 'grave ruining' business. He tells the public that the reason he's doing all of this construction is because he wants to make good things for the people of this town, but I think it's obvious that's not the real reason."

"He seems to be making a ton of money off of this."

"If you can make money off of 'grave ruining', then if I piss on a grave will I become a millionaire like him?" Zack laughed.

The Professor stared at Zack in disgust. "Dude." Zack just shrugged and went along on his merry way.

...

_Dear Mama and Dad,_

_It's only been a day that I've been away as I'm writing this letter, and I already miss you 's been weird, but it's been fun, too. The Professor is a little...shall we say, "different", but he's nice. It turns out that this other kid named Zack is working to be a Trainer too, and he's being chaperoned with me, so we're stuck together. He doesn't seem to be all too interested in how other people feel, though. Can you get Dad to come beat him up for me?_

_Love, Brave_

_P.S ; I caught a Pokemon! It's an Eevee, and it's really low level, but I'll work on it._

I licked the tip of the envelope to seal the letter in, and then I slipped the envelope into my bag. I looked back inside the room where Bonsai and Zack were sleeping on the beds. I was thankful that Bonsai was sane enough (at the moment, anyways) to get us _decent_ motel. I sat outside in the hallway, holding the Poke Ball that held the Eevee. I couldn't wait to use it battle.

A roll of thunder roared outside the building. A storm must have been starting. What a great thing to happen in a town supposedly filled with apparently angry ghosts. Guess that Hex Maniac was right about something, at least...

...

A shadow crawled across the walls of Lavender Town, skulking around, searching for the place. It came to a bright little house, the only place in town at this time of night still alive with its lights on. Two men carried mutiple boxes that looked like miniature coffins out of the house and threw them into the back of a truck where they would be carted away to a place they obviously should not be.

"Hey!" One of the men shouted to the other. "Be careful with those! Have some respect for the dead!"

"Who cares? They're dead."

"That's the point, asshole."

_This is the place._ The shadow thought to herself. She, without one of the men noticing, put a hand on his shoulder.

The other man gasped. "Th-there's..."

"Hm? What?"

"There's a white hand on your shoulder..."

"Huh? Oh, sure. You're just trying to scare me 'cuz I set your little dead friends down too hard."

"No...I think we should leave..."

"Why? Mr. Magenta said we needed to get all of these bodies out of here before morning, and we're not even close to being-"

The white hand went from the man's shoulder to his neck, crushing it with inhuman strength. The man fell to the ground, blacking out as the other man screamed and took off running. The shadow girl decided to let _him _live. At least he respected the dearly departed.

The girl became more visible as she turned to speak to the other spirits behind her. Long, wispy purple hair trailed down her back, and a matching Victorian dress blended in with the darkness. Dark eyes that looked as if they hadn't got sleep in years stared widely back at the souls of the dead Pokemon floating from out of their coffins to greet the shadowy ghost girl.

The girl grinned an evil smile. "So...do you wish for revenge, my friends?"

The spirits nodded and squeaked in agreement.

The ghost laughed in response. "Well, then...I will give you the power to do so."

The Pokemon giggled and cheered, until the girl held up her hand. "But...you must do something in exchange for your gift. If I give you your revenge, you must promise to search the land for my special one."

The spirits looked confused. The girl sighed. "I passed long ago, and I couldn't find my special one before I died. They said they would meet me in the usual place we would meet in, but I...I couldn't find my special one...now I ask you for this favor. Since I am confined to haunt only the places I lived in during my time in the living world, I cannot search for my special one in other places. I will finally be at rest when I find the right one. And since you are Pokemon that lived in other parts of this world until you died and were brought here to be buried, you can search in the places you once lived in for my special one. So...do we have a deal?"

The spirits nodded eagerly, and the girl smiled. She raised her hands up in the air, and the spirits began to glow. "Now, my dearly departed..._be free!_"

Hundreds of lights of different colors shot across the night sky, illuminating the darkness. Some of the spirits stayed in Lavender Town to get revenge on the humans that ruined their resting places, while others simply wanted to help the girl find her "special one" and rocketed to other parts of the land to begin the search. But most of the spirits broke their promise and didn't plan to search for the "special one"-they just wanted the power to torture the living for fun, and off they went to other regions to do just that.

The ghost girl from Lumiose City did not know this, however-but she was delighted to see the souls travel across the sky as a thunderstorm broke out, lightning being one of the many lights that shot across the clouds. Living in Lavender Town as a small child, then moving to the Hoenn Region, and then finally meeting her "special one" in Lumiose City before dying, the ghost girl didn't really have quite that many places available to look for the "one". But maybe someone could find the one for her...


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

I jumped in surprise at the sound of thunder bursting through the silence of the night. It was the most bizzare thing-when I looked outside through the window, the lightning the storm was producing wasn't in the usual rigged lines of light lightning was supposed to be. It was in streaks, like shooting stars running across the sky. I mean, I'd heard of streak lightning before where lightning would be in perfect lines, but this was _weird_. There were _hundreds_ of streaks of light in the sky, not just one every once in a while like a regular storm would have.

Great. Just great. Some weird creepy unnatural phenomenon was raging outside in a town full of ghosts where a psychic told me I would become a victim of said ghosts. No, it's okay. I'm fine. I'm fine. I'mfineI'mfineI'mfineI'mfineI'mfineI'mfineI'mfineI'mfineI'mfineI'mfineI'mfineI'mfineI'mfineI'mfineI'mfineI'mfineI'mfineI'mfineI'mfineOHMYGODI'MNOTFINE

I held the Poke Ball with the Eevee inside of it, contemplating on whether I should let it out so that I wouldn't feel alone sitting out here in the hallway...

Suddenly, I felt goosebumps. It felt like someone was standing behind me, and slowly, very slowly, I twisted my head around to see if anything was there. A barefooted figure with shoulder-length black hair, black pajama pants and a black band t-shirt stood behind me.

I sighed with relief. "Oh, it's you. Way to scare the ever-loving crap out of me, you jerk."

But Zack just stood there staring at me. Not saying or doing anything. For a loooooooooooooooooooooooong time.

"Um...do you need something?" I asked, scooching away slowly.

He finally tilted his head and smiled. "**You're pretty."**

I laughed. "Uh, _what?_"

He bent down to be at my level. He started playing with my hair, twisting it between his pale fingers. "**I think he likes you."**

I pushed his hand away. "Excuse me? Wh-What are you doing?"

"**The boy. He likes you." **Zack pointed at his head. "**He's in here."**

Damn it, he just _had _to be freaking Hannibal Lector's brother, didn't he?! How was it that out all of the people partnered up with me for the Trainer chaperone thing I had to get the one that was hella insane? "Um...I think I have to go..."

"**Don't go**," Zack said, grabbing my hand.

"Let go of me!" I ripped my hand away from his strong grasp.

It was just then I finally focused on his face. His eyes were _black_, and his pupils were...this weird lavender color...it was eerie as hell, and I was getting the heck out of there.

Zack grinned a crazy Mr. Hyde-like grin. "**Aren't we friends, Brave?"**

That was when I started running like a bat outta hell down the hallway, dashing downstairs. I could hear Zack, or whatever that thing was, calling me from upstairs, running after me. "**I'****M****C****O****M****I****N****G, ****B****R****A****V****E****!**"

Holy shit.

I kept running as fast as I could down the flights of stairs, but Zack was faster. He grab me by the torso and picked me up. "_**DoN't YoU WAnNa plAY, brAVe?**_" He then dangled me off the side of the railing on the stairs. Seven floors were below me. I screeched, trying to grab at the railing, and I would've fallen if I hadn't grabbed it. One hand held up my entire body, and those eerie black and lavender eyes stared back at me, a wide grin smiling below the eyes. Zack picked at my fingers, trying to make my hand lose its grasp on the railing. "**fiVE...FoUr...thReE..."** He counted each time he plucked at a finger.

"ZACK, PLEASE! _STOP!_" Tears rolled down my cheeks as I screamed.

"**...tWO..." **Zack giggled. "**...oNE.**"

I fell down, down, down...I heard a loud crack, which I assumed was my neck breaking, and then my eyes closed.

Huh. Apparently it doesn't hurt when you die. Weird.

When I opened my eyes again, I woke up in...

...the motel? I was on the first floor where I should have been dead, but I was floating for some reason. I looked up, and I was being held by something big and purple.

It turned out the cracking noise came from the hands of the being that held me, the impact making a noise when I was caught from above. A Haunter, one of the most famous of the Ghost-type Pokemon, smiled down at me, holding me in its clawed hands.

I freaked out and jumped out of its hands, screeching. The Haunter then silenced me by covering my mouth with its hand. It kept making gestures that made it obvious it wanted me to be quiet. It pointed up at the top of the stairs, as if it wanted to say I should play dead or else Zack would try to kill me again. So I played dead, trying my best to look like I wasn't breathing. Zack looked down at me from the top of the stairs and laughed, beginning to sing. "**bRAve iS dEAd, sHE bROKe HeR HEad, BrAVe iS DeAD, ShE BroKE hER heAD~**"

Zack suddenly stopped singing. "...Huh? Wh...What am I..." He looked down at the bottom floor. "Oh...no...that's not...I..." He began stuttering, saying something like he "couldn't have", and he finally ran down the stairs to get a better look at me. I kept playing dead in case this was a trick to make Zack think I was alive so he could try to kill me again. The Haunter hid, but watched from afar as Zack took my head into his shaking hands.

"No...no...no..._no_..." His voice broke out into long sobs. He yelled and cried and mourned, or at least I think he did. "BRAVE, PLEASE! SPEAK TO ME!"

It was so convincing I almost actually fell for it. His eyes weren't weird looking anymore-they were brown. I was about to say something to him to make him stop crying. But before I could make any decisions on that matter, Zack looked up at someone in front of us, and like magic, his eyes morphed into the black and purple color again. "**What the hell-**"

Someone hit Zack on the head with a steel pipe, and he fainted. I looked to see who it was, and it was the Hex Maniac from earlier. She grabbed my hand and pulled me up, the Haunter rejoining us. "Come with me if you want to live."

...

I was dragged to the Hex Maniac's secret hideout, which was tucked away underground. It's entrance was in an alleyway, a manhole covered by dust and trash. The Maniac pulled the metal top off and let me climb down the rusted ladder to the bottom. At the bottom, surprisingly, wasn't a sewer.

From wall to wall there were purple drapes, and the floor was covered with a dusty old purplish-grayish carpet that was so old and worn-looking I couldn't really make out its color. There was an antique, classy wooden dresseer and a matching, tall mirror standing on the side of it. A purple bed hidden by lavender curtains sat in the corner of the room, and in the middle of the room sat a long table with with old chairs surrounding it, the table being covered with dozens of bottles filled with different colored dusts.

"This place used to be a tornado shelter back when the town was first founded." The Hex Maniac said, jumping off of the ladder. "It's been abandoned ever since, so it's our best bet for safety."

"From who?" I asked.

"The ghosts, duh."

"...What?"

"I wasn't pulling some cheap side-show trick on ya, kid. The dead are coming after us, just like I knew they would."

"So...you're really a psychic?"

"Hell no! It simply takes common sense to know that a town known for its ghosts would be filled with angry ghosts after their graves were messed with."

"Uh-huh..."

"Come on! You must have seen the lights too, right?"

"You mean the lightning?"

"That wasn't lightning," the girl said grimly. "those were the souls of dead Pokemon scattering across the world."

"You're serious...?"

"I saw it happen." The Hex Maniac's eyes darkened. "It was at the fault of the Lumiose Ghost Girl."

"Who?"

"There was once a girl who had a 'special one'. No one knows what kind of living being the girl loved so dearly, whether it was a lover, or a friend, or maybe even a Pokemon. But she can't find this guy. So she haunts Lumiose City in the Kalos Region, searching for her special one. She also haunts this place too sometimes, since she lived here as a child, and in exchange for power being given to the spirits of the dead Pokemon, the girl wants them to help find her special one. I don't know if that's what the spirits plan on doing with their powers, but the ghosts are stronger now, and some of them are set on torturing humans. The boy who attacked you, by the way, was possessed by a ghost. That's why his eyes were all funky." The girl explained, pointing to her eyes for emphasis.

I held my head in my hands. "Ugh, this isn't happening..."

Suddenly I felt something sharp pecking at my back. It was the Haunter, floating there and smiling at me.

The Haunter floated over to the girl. "This is my Pokemon, by the way. Without my knowing, she rushed in to help you."

I widened my eyes. "You...saved me...th-thank you..."

The Haunter giggled and gave me a small hug. Then she went to cuddle with the Hex Maniac. "It's thanks to her I found you. You would probably have become a part of the massacre of humans. Her name is Infinity, by the way."

"_Infinity?_"

"It's 'cuz she's a ghost-type Pokemon. She's infinite because she'll never die. She's a good friend to talk to."

I felt dizzy. "You...can talk...to Pokemon?"

"Doesn't everybody?"

I felt like I could faint. "Oh my god..."

I barfed on the Hex Maniac's rug, feeling like I could black out any minute now. I guess you could say I couldn't stomach what was happening right now.

The girl looked like she would be upset, but then she calmed down and just shrugged. "I needed to get a new rug anyways."

Later, when the Hex Maniac cleaned up the mess and gave me a water to settle my tummy (turns out Hex Maniacs are great motherly figures) she handed me a Poke Ball. But not just any Poke Ball. It was clear, and it looked like glass with a slight purple tint to it. Even though it looked like glass, it felt as tough and looked as dazzling as diamond.

"What is this?" I asked, holding up the glittering ball.

"That's a Crystal Poke Ball," the girl said, pointing to the ball, "I made it myself. Regular Poke Balls can't catch the spirits of dead Pokemon, but that one can. It's a modified Poke Ball meant to catch souls of dead Pokemon _and _dead humans."

"Are we...going to actually use these?"

"Yeah. What else can we use to fight against the ghosts out there?"

"We're going back out there?!"

"We can't stay in here forever! I only have so many waters and graham crackers to go around!"

"What do you plan to do?"

"Simple." The girl picked up a black basket covered with a purple cloth, taking the cloth off to reveal dozens more Crystal Poke Balls inside. "We're going ghost hunting."

...

The Hex Maniac and I shuffled out onto the streets of Lavender Town slowly and quietly, checking around each corner to see if anything was there. Over and over we ducked into alleyways to hide from wandering spirits. I was scared to think about what was happening to the other people in this town, like...what if people got possessed like Zack and tried to kill each other for shits and giggles? And what had become of Professor Bonsai? He couldn't have still been asleep in the motel room, right?

"Excuse me, Hex-Maniac-person?" I whispered to the girl when we were in an alleyway.

"It's Olivia," the girl said. "My real name is Olivia Opalman."

"Okay, Miss Olivia. I was traveling with a man and we were staying the night at the motel here. Do you think he's still asleep in his room?"

"Probably not," Olivia sighed. "I hate to break it to ya, kid, but he's probably either possessed or dead."

"DEAD?!" I said, a little bit to loudly.

"SHHH! Pipe down, kid! Maybe he's not dead, okay? We'll see! Just follow me!"

Me and Olivia snuck our way to the motel, running through the slightly illuminated darkness. Bright spirits floated around, and of some of the spirits I could barely make out what kind of Pokemon they were; the ghost of a Clefairy, a Bulbasaur, and a Dragonair. Maybe that was Professor Bonsai's Dragonair. Maybe the reason why he was also upset about the mistreatment of the graves was because his Dragonair was buried here too. Was that why the picture of the Dragonair was painted on the side of his van?...

When we walked inside the motel, all of the lights were turned off, and when we checked some of the employee rooms in the back, nobody was there, as if they all had simply vanished into thin air. It was so quiet in the tall motel that you could hear practically anything, if it weren't for the thunder roaring outside breaking the silence. I rushed to the seventh floor to check to see if Bonsai was still in his room, Olivia following closely behind. When I came to the right room, I was surprised to find Bonsai still snoring loudly as he rested on his bed. Zack was nowhere to be found. I gave a look of triumph to Olivia, and she rolled her eyes.

I took some quiet steps toward Bonsai's bed to wake him up and get him out of here so he wouldn't be alone at the hands of any spooky ghosts. I shook him. "Mr. Bonsai! Wake up!"

Bonsai tossed and turned. "...That's _Professor_ Bonsai to you...I didn't rot in college...for all those years...for nothin'..."

"Fine, 'Professor', we need to get out of here!"

He drearily opened his eyes. "Why?"

"Um...tornado! We need to go to the basement for safety!"

That got his attention. He bolted out of bed, snatching his glasses off of his bedside table. When he put them on, he looked around the room. "Where's Zack?"

"He's already in the basement! Come on!" I tugged on Bonsai's arm and dragged him out of the room, us and the Hex Maniac booking it down the stairs.

When we got to the bottom floor, the wispy spirit of a Tyrantrum appeared before us, scaring the ever-loving crap out of Bonsai. "What is that thing?!" He screeched.

Before I could answer, the beast began charging towards us, and then Olivia snatched a Crystal Ball out of her basket, tossing it towards the ghost. It encapsulated the spirit, the ball shaking once, twice...and finally becoming still. Olivia picked up the ball, putting it back into the basket. "Come on! Let's go!"

We ran outside, finding a bunch of other spirits swarming above. Olivia handed some Crystal Poke Balls to me and Bonsai. "Catch the ghosts with these. If you need some help, bring out your own Pokemon to fight back." She then pulled something out of her pocket. "These are Silph Scopes. They can identify what kind of Pokemon these spirits are so your Pokemon won't be too scared to fight. Now go!"

I nodded in response and immediatly threw a ball at one of the wispy souls, capturing it. Other spirits weren't as easy to catch, though. One of them attacked me, scratching me across one of my cheeks. I then grabbed a regular Poke Ball from my bag. "Come out, Eevee!"

The brown Pokemon jumped out of the ball, looking around at its surroundings. It started crying in fear when it saw what it was fighting against, until I used the Silph Scope. The Eevee toughened up, stopping its trembling. "Eevee, use Swift!" I called out, and the Pokemon summoned golden stars that floated in the air around it, then it willed the stars to go as fast as lightning, cutting into its opponent. Once weakened, the ghost cried out in pain, leaving me to capture it in the Crystal Ball.

Bonsai had the same luck, being injured a bit, but then by using his own Pokemon, he captured a ghost. He had summoned a Lapras, letting it throw bursts of water at its opponent. Olivia used her Haunter to fight against the spirits, letting it use the move "Night Shade".

One of the spirits, however, was unexpectedly powerful, knocking out my Eevee, my only Pokemon. I thought it was all over until a Chimchar came out of nowhere, throwing bursts of fire at my opponent. A Sylveon, the super-girly-looking evolution of Eevee, used fairy-type moves against the ghost, knocking it out and letting me catch it.

When I looked to see who owned the Pokemon, I saw Zack, who looked weak and injured for some reason, bruises and scratches all over his body.

He looked at me. "...Hi."

"...Hi."

We didn't really have much to say.

Olivia ran in front of me to stand guard. "Don't touch her, or I'll-"

"-Don't worry, he's fine, see? His eyes are normal again."

She looked closely at the boy. "How did you become normal?"

"My Pokemon kicked my ass." Zack pointed to the wounds all over his body. "They saw something was wrong with me and beat me up until the spirit finally decided to get out."

I looked to his Pokemon, who were still fighting against the ghosts, weakening them and letting Bonsai capture the spirits.

"We need all the help we can get around here." I said to Zack. "Bring out all of your Pokemon to fight the ghosts, then use to these to catch them." I explained, handing Zack some Crystal Poke Balls. "And thanks for pushing me off the side of a building, douchebag."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

The night sky exploded into a billion colors as Pokemon raged an angry war against each other, the living against the dead.

A Sylveon emitted a pink aura from its body, the aura seemingly burning the opposing ghost. A Lapras summoned gallons of water and willed it to hit the enemy at lightning speed. A Haunter clawed at the spirits like a rabbid cat, not looking quite as majestic as the other battling Pokemon. I revived my Eevee so it could join the fight as well, even though it was angry at me for letting it faint on my account.

Zack snorted snot up his nose, a couple of tears shedding from his eyes as he whimpered in pain. A ghost had kicked him in the gut, and I almost thought of teasing him for acting like a wuss 'cuz he wasn't even hit that hard until I was hit across the back of my skull by a spirit. I didn't feel like saying anything after that.

Everything became blurry as I doubled over in pain, the spirit kicking me in the jaw when I was down. I reached wearily for a Crystal Poke Ball, only to get punched in the chest. A demonic voice growled at me as it hit me again and again; "**dOn'T yOU DAre lOOK AwaY fROM mE, bITCh!**" and "**hOW daRE YoU TrY tO stOP mE frOM FINDinG My hAPpINESs! HoW dARE yOU, HoW dARE YOu, hoW dArE yOU..." **were among its threats.

The Silph Scope revealed the ghost to be not a Pokemon, but a...human girl. She was dressed a lot like a Hex Maniac, with the purple hair and Victorian dress, but her eyes were so empty and dark, her hair ruffled and messy, spots of blood staining her face and creating sticky knots in her long hair. Tears rolled down from her angry, yet sad eyes as she hit me, and somehow I recognized her from somewhere...

"You...you're the Rare Candy Girl, aren't you?"

The ghost's hand was an inch close from my face as she held it there in surprised silence, halting her attack. "**...wHo ARe YoU?" **Her raspy demon voice asked.

I spat blood out of my mouth and grinned, revealing slightly bloodstained teeth. "'Not all people have happy endings, and even the ones who do...'"

"**...DoN't GeT pERFect OnEs.**" The girl finished for me.

She just sat there and stared at me with those empty eyes. Then her pale body began to tremble, and loud sobs pierced the air. Except, her voice wasn't demonic anymore-it sounded like a real girl's sob. Everyone stopped and stared for a moment in awe and confusion as to why this was happening. Even the ghosts stopped to gawk.

I sat up and slowly reached for the girl's face, my hand shaking due to the pain. The girl gasped when she saw my hand coming towards her, and she balled up, covering her hands with her face. I held her face in my trembling hand, and she finally looked up at me. "Why are you making such a fuss? You were so nice to me when we first met." I smiled.

A horrid look of dread and regret flew across the girl's face. She began to sob again. "DON"T TOUCH ME!" She slapped my hand off of her face. The girl looked like she immediatly regretted her actions, and gave me a look of despair. "...I'm sorry..."

And then she was gone. She disappeared into thin air, just as Bonsai captured the last Ghost Pokemon still remaining in Lavender Town.

...

I caught the bits and pieces of what Olivia was talking to me about as she counted the Crystal Poke Balls the next morning. "My hair is actually black" and "I'm craving waffles for breakfast" and "Damn, I broke a nail" were all I could make out as I set my head on her table, my band-aid covered nose nudging the surface.

She finally looked back at me and sighed. "Sorry. I know I'm boring." Olivia handed me something on a stick that was wrapped in plastic. "Happy Dia de los Muertos."

I looked to see it was a candy skull with colorful frosting all over it. "Um...Happy Halloween?"

"Yesterday was Halloween. All Hallow's Eve. Today is November 1st, All Hallow's Day, or as they say where I'm from, Dia de los Muertos." She unwrapped a candy of her own and sat down with me. "Yesterday and today are said to be the only days in the entire year when the dead are said to come from the afterlife and into the living world to visit their loved ones."

"Huh. This is my first year not going trick-or-treating with my parents."

"Lucky you then. I don't think your parents would have liked to be beaten up by angry spirits when all they were trying to do was participate in this overly commercialized holiday." Olivia crunched on her candy. "So...may I ask you...how did you know that girl?"

"You mean the Hex Maniac?"

"Well, she may _look _like a Hex Maniac, but I've never seen her face before at the Ghost Pokemon Conventions."

I decided not to delve into the part about ghost cons. That was a whole other jar of crazy that could be opened another day. "I think...I think I met her once when I was little. She gave me a candy, said something sad, and then walked away. I remember that day because that was the day we also adopted our family pet..."

Olivia gagged. "Ew, you didn't eat the candy you got, did you?"

"It wasn't for me," I licked the candy skull, "it was a Rare Candy. I gave it to the Pokemon we adopted."

"Your pet hasn't been chanting demonic spells or some other crazy shit since then, right?"

I shrugged. "Cubone's a weird Pokemon. That's all I can really say."

Zack wobbled into the room, collapsing at the table. "Everything hurts..."

"Want me to mix up a healing potion for you?" Olivia said, pointing to one of her spell books.

Zack groaned in response.

Bonsai yawned as he entered the room as well, his arms stretching in the air. "What's for breakfast, Opalman?"

Olivia held a candy skull up in the air, and Bonsai looked disappointed for a moment before shrugging and taking a candy for himself, joining us at the table.

"How many Poke Balls have we got, kid?" Bonsai asked wearily.

Olivia counted the capsules, then had a look of shock on her face. She counted the Poke Balls one more time just to be sure nothing was wrong, but something was still wrong. "We...we only have..."

"We only have...?" I leaned in to looks at the Poke Balls.

"...There are 299 graves in Lavender Town."

"And?"

"We only have 200 souls."

I bit my lip. "Where are the rest of the souls?"

"Remember the lights scattering across the sky? Those were the rest of the souls traveling to other parts of the land..."

Bonsai choked on his candy skull, and his glasses fell off. "_For the love of god-_"

Zack held up his fingers. "Let's see...299 minus 200 equals...something..."

"99." Olivia sighed.

"I know how to count!" Zack scoffed.

"What do we do, then?" I asked.

"Well...someone has to go out and find them!" Olivia stood up. "How about a road trip?"

"Bye." Zack began to make his way out of the room.

"What? Why are you leaving?"

"I was promised a Pokemon adventure, not some shitty rip-off of the Ghost Whisperer. Peace out."

"Brave, aren't you going to do something?" Olivia whispered to me. "He's leaving!"

"I can see that."

"But he _can't _leave!"

"Why not? We don't need that jerk to help us."

"He has strong Pokemon. _You_ have a measly level ten Eevee that scratches at your face every time you let it out."

"Wait up, emo-boy! I'mma comin' up!" I clanked my feet on the rusted steps of the ladder.

Bonsai sighed. "So I guess he'll be her rival, huh?"

"Really? They look like they're about to settle down and start a family together." Olivia flicked Bonsai's forehead.

Olivia tied up her long dark hair up into a ponytail and changed into an orange sundress. She grabbed her bag of Crystal Poke Balls and followed the Professor up the ladder. Once she made it to the outside world, she felt something prod at her back, and she turned to see her Haunter, floating there with an egg in her hands.

Olivia gasped. "No way..."

...

"Hey! You guys!"

We were all just loading into the van when we saw Olivia run out with a green-spotted egg in her hands.

"Look. It's a baby." She smiled.

"Whose baby?" I asked.

"Hers." Olivia said, pointing her thumb at her Haunter.

"Aw, is she a mother?" I said, gently rubbing the egg. It was warm, and you could feel a tiny little creature stirring in there.

Zack stuck his tongue out and gagged. "Grody, dude."

Bonsai came up and took the egg from Olivia's hands. He examined it carefully. "So a baby Gastly will come from this..."

The Mother Haunter nodded excitedly, and gently caressed the egg.

"However," Olivia began, "the egg will only grow and hatch when it's with other active Pokemon. Which means..." She handed the egg to me. "A Trainer with a good heart should raise it."

"What? No, I can't take this-"

"-Remember, it can only grow when it's around other Pokemon. She would appreciate the care put into it." Olivia said, gesturing to her Haunter. "I'll tell you what-you can have the Gastly once it hatches, just so long as you allow it to visit its mother every once in a while."

"...Okay, I guess..." I carefully set the egg in a soft place in my bag. "Thank you."

"No problem." Olivia then handed me a silky-looking bag. "I stayed up last night and made just enough Crystal Poke Balls for you to catch all of the ghosts." She bit her lip. "I'm sorry...I won't be able to come help you guys. I have to stay and protect this town if the Lumiose Ghost comes back."

"Whatever." I shrugged. "It's _him _I'm worried about traveling with." I looked to Zack, who sat in the van picking his ears with his pinky.

"Don't underestimate him, Brave. You told me he literally just met you, right? Get to know him better. He may be more of a friend than you would think."

"Yeah, yeah. Thanks for the pep-talk, _mom_." I climbed into the van.

"Be careful," Olivia said her goodbyes. "and remember, holy water does _not _fix all issues with the supernatural! You have to put your back into it! Don't be a pansy!"

...

A girl in a Victorian dress stood and watched from afar as her enemies left the town, off to attempt to ruin her chances of finding her "Special One". She felt a lump in her throat as she recalled last night's events. She regretted harming the toddler she had met years ago, now a full-grown girl just trying to help people not get hurt. But the ghost didn't know that. Of course she would be upset when people would try to stop her from finding happiness. She didn't know she was just an innocent girl...she didn't know...

But she would have to stop her. The ghost would do her best to halt the children from hurting her chances of being happy. She wouldn't rest until she found her special one once more.

...

As we rolled along on the beginning of our adventure, Professor Bonsai spoke up. "You know, about what the angsty emo boy said earlier...you guys don't have to miss out on your little Pkemon adventure."

Zack's head shot up. "What do you mean?"

"There's this new thing called the International Championship where you don't beat every gym leader in one specific region to get to fight the Pokemon Champion; you beat one gym leader from each region, and then once you have all of the badges, you can fight the International Champion, the Trainer who beat every gym leader, Elite Four Member and Regional Champion in the world."

"That sounds really..._hard_." I sighed.

"Yeah, that's why people usually choose the Regional Championships rather than the International Championships. But since you're not going to have time to fight all of the gym leaders in one region and need to be in every region to catch your, um...'ghost' thingies, you can just stop in one gym at a time. But only the best of the best can make it to the top. Do you think you guys can handle it?"

Zack snickered. "I can. I don't know about Brave, though."

I held my breath as I thought about it. "Do you really think we can handle taking on the International Championships _and_ hunting down nineteen ghosts from all of the regions?"

"It's up to you, though I don't think there's any other way to get to be a Pokemon Master _and _catch all nineteen of the Pokemon."

"Then...fine. Let's do it."

"First one to beat the World Champion gets to have bragging rights for the rest of their life. Deal?" Zack held out his hand to me.

I shook his hand. "Deal."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Even though it was October, it was the air was sticky and hot in the Johto region. This land was the home to famous trainers like Gold and Silver many years ago, though I didn't know what they were doing nowadays. They're probably far away in a region that isn't freaking fiery-pits-of-hell-hot year-round.

I stepped out of the van and onto the muddy ground, accidentally stepping in a huge puddle. I was swimming in my own shoes at that point, so I decided to go back into the van to change my footwear. I turned around, and I saw my Eevee sitting on my seat next to my bag. He looked at me with disgust, then scoffed and turned his nose up at me.

"What's with the bad attitude, Eevee?" I reached for my bag that had the extra pair of shoes in it. Eevee hissed at me when my hand came near him, and he bit me. I screeched in pain. "Ow! What was that for?!"

Eevee made a little "Hmph" noise and nestled into the corner of the van to take a nap. I rolled my eyes and went for my shoes to put them on.

"Why does my Eevee hate me so much?" I asked Professor Bonsai.

"Hm...do you let it faint in battle a lot?"

"Well...I mean...I've only fought with it once."

"Maybe it's because it doesn't want to be owned. Maybe it wants to roam in the wild. If you want to release it back into the wild, I can help you find another Pokemon to start with."

I looked back at the Eevee. "...Do you really think it doesn't want to be here? Now I feel bad..."

"Well, you can always just _ask _it why it's upset." A voice said behind me. I looked to see it was Zack, holding a Poke Ball. He threw it into the air and yelled, "Come out, Snorlax!"

A giant Snorlax escaped the tiny ball, and it towered over everyone, even Bonsai. I was scared it was going to eat me or something until it mumbled, "Now where are my glasses? I can't see a thing..."

Zack pulled a glasses case out of his hoodie pocket and handed it to the Snorlax. "I kept it safe for you."

The Snorlax fitted the glasses onto his face. "Ah, much better. Thank you."

"Y-You...have a talking Snorlax?" I stuttered.

Zack nodded proudly. "He learned English all on his own. He's studying to be a Pokemon Professor, you know."

I looked to Bonsai for answers as to why this was possible, and he shrugged. "If Pokemon like Meowths can learn to talk, why can't a Snorlax?"

"Snorlax, would you do this poor girl a favor and translate what her Eevee is saying? It's angry at her and she doesn't know why." Zack pointed to where the Eevee was.

The Snorlax took heavy steps towards the van, frightening the Eevee. "I'm not going to hurt you," the Pokemon told the trembling fox-like creature. The two then went back and forth conversing in a Pokemon language Eevee could understand, and the Snorlax finally came back after a while.

"W-Well?" I looked up at the green beast.

"He says it was rude of you to take advantage of him in an injured state."

"I...I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude, I just didn't have any Pokemon on me and I really needed one in order to become a Trainer."

The Snorlax translated for the Eevee, and the Eevee said something that the Snorlax would translate for me; "He says he'll except your apology only if you promise to be careful with him. No fighting against Pokemon that are more than likely to knock him out; he wants you to start small."

Jeez, Eevee was sassy. "O-Okay."

The Eevee said something again. "And he always would enjoy a tummy-rub." The Snorlax translated.

I walked up to the fluffy Pokemon as he rolled over on his back, exposing his stomach. I gently rubbed his tummy, and he giggled in response. He squeaked at me in protest when he wanted me to stop, and then he looked at me like _he _was the one with all the wiseness and power here, and then he went back to take his nap inside of his Poke Ball.

Eevee was a real hoot-and-a-half, that was for sure.

...

Later when we all went out and about through the town in Johto, I let Eevee out to walk beside me to let him stretch his legs. He still had a snooty air about him, though.

I tried to strike up a conversation in the awkward silence. "So...uh...how did you get hurt before? Did a Trainer try to catch you but failed?"

The Eevee squeaked in response. "Vee-Vee, eevee. Eevee eve, vee."

"Yo, angsty!" I yelled to Zack, who was a couple of feet in front of me. "I need some translation over here!"

Zack grinned. "You'll have to get your own genius Pokemon." Then he did some stupid-looking hair flip with his long bangs and turned away from me. God, I hate it when people do that.

The Eevee groaned and rolled its eyes, and then ran over to some mud. He put one of his paws in it, and then used the mud to draw a letter on the sidewalk; "M".

I tilted my head in confusion. "'M'? Who's 'M'?"

Before anyone could say anything more, we heard a loud screech. It came from an alleyway next to us, and Bonsai went to go see what was wrong. We followed him, and we saw two men wearing dark sunglasses, black suits, dark pink neckties and a dark pink "M" written on a pocket on the jacket of the suit had pulled out a gun on a lady, trying to take her purse.

The two men saw us, and then pointed their guns at Bonsai. "Make a move and we'll shoot!"

My Eevee decided to step in and take over, using the move "Swift" on the two men, causing them to fall over and drop their weapons. Bonsai made a quick grab for the guns, and pointed them at the men when they tried to fight back. "Don't even think about it." He looked to me and Zack. "Go for the police! NOW!"

Just as we were making a run for it, a man with blond hair who wore a fancy dark pink suit walked into the alleyway. The men in the black suits suddenly stood up. "S-Sir!"

The blond man grinned. "Well now, boys! This is no way to act around guests to this region!"

Bonsai scowled. "You..."

"Ah, I see my reputation has crossed even the borders of the regions. Yes, I am the infamous Alonzay Magenta. Pleased to meet you." He held out his hand to shake, but Bonsai turned the gesture down. "I see...well then, I suppose I shall be taking my leave." He turned to the two men. "Come now, boys! Quit making a fool of yourselves and come along."

Bonsai stepped forward. "Wait a minute! Your men just tried to rob this woman over here! You can't just expect-"

"-All my men were trying to do was collect the money this woman had borrowed from my company. She still hasn't made any effort to pay back her dues, and all my employees were doing was speeding up the process by asking for the money now." Magenta looked angrily at his men. "However, they were a little bit _too_ forceful, might I add. I apologize for the trouble caused. I did not mean for any negative outcomes of this." He began walking away with his employees. "Good day."

My Eevee growled at the men as they left. I suddenly realized what he meant when he wrote the "M". The men with the "M"'s written on their pockets had been the ones who attacked Eevee. But why?

...

"Where to now?" I asked Bonsai.

He looked closely at his map. "Uh...it says here that the gym you want to go to is...about a block from here..." He turned the map upside down. "Or is it a few feet away?..."

"You'll need to go one street over to get to the International Championship Gym of Johto."

"Hm? Oh, than-" Bonsai looked up from his map to see who told him the directions.

A tall woman (even taller than Bonsai) stood before us. She had waist-long blond hair and razor-cut bangs. At the ends of her hair were green highlights to match with her green clothes, which consisted of a dark green trenchcoat over a light green t-shirt and dark skinny jeans under tall white boots. Her wise green eyes and confident smile pulled her look together.

Bonsai stuttered in her presence. "Y-You're..."

The woman nodded. "Yes, I'm the gym leader you're looking for." She held out her hand to shake everyone's hands. "My name is Gresna. Pleased to meet you."

"W-Wow! What an honor to meet you, ma'am! May I say I'm quite a fan of your work!" Bonsai happily shook Gresna's hand.

Gresna gave a small laugh. "I'm honored that you'd say such a thing, since I'm nothing special. However..." She looked to me and Zack. "I must say, if these are the trainers taking me on, they look at tad bit young to do so."

"I know, but I'll be training them so they can take on people of the International Championship's strength. They're doing great so far!" Bonsai lied through his teeth.

Gresna smiled. "Well, then. I hope you're both well prepared, for the Championships are for seasoned competitors, not beginners. It's not going to be easy to get to the top." She turned away. "Farewell. I'll see you later at my gym, yes?"

I nodded and waved goodbye to the woman, and as soon as she was gone I started freaking out. "OHGODIDON'TTHINKICANDOTHIS"

"Calm down! Once you train more, we can take her on! Don't worry too much about this. You'll be fine!" Bonsai grinned.

Zack snickered. "Can't take the competition, Leonhart? Better step up your game, or someone's going to miss out on a lifetime of glory."

I mocked Zack in higher pitched voice. "'_Better step up your game, Leonhart, or you'll miss out on a lifetime of glory!_'"

Zack scoffed, flipped his hair (I HATE IT WHEN HE DOES THAT) and strutted away towards the gym, I'm guessing because he thought he was ready to take the leader on already. Freaking angsty jerk. Then again, he owns a Sylveon, which means he would _have _to had literally loved the ever-loving crap out of his Eevee so that it could evolve into Sylveon. I guess maybe he's not _that _heartless if that was true...maybe he has a soft side? (HA! Yeah right)

...

Mr. Magenta sat at his desk in his office, turning his chair to face the window. One of his employees stood before him like a soldier would stand before a general. "Sir! The preperations have been made!"

Magenta didn't move from his spot. "Did anyone catch you?"

"No, Sir!"

The man chuckled softly. "Very well, then. Hand me it."

The employee handed Magenta a box of cookies. "No one was in the break room at all! How lucky was I to snatch that from the fridge in there without those greedy pigs catching me!"

Magenta began snacking on the food. "No kidding. Chad from accounting always steals so much food from in there, it's not even funny. Joke's on him, I got to the food first!" He put down the cookies and wiped his mouth. "Alright, let's get serious here. You got me my snack, but were you able to get the loans paid back to me?"

The employee looked nervous. "I...the woman I was trying to get the money from...she was too fast and got away..."

Magenta glared down the female employee. "Is that so?"

The girl bowed slightly to Magenta. "P-Please forgive me, sir. I won't make the same mistake again."

"That's right. You won't." Magenta called two other employees into the room. "I have a zero-tolerance policy towards people who make mistakes in my company. Boys..." He looked to the other employees. "...you know what to do."

The employees nodded, and began to drag the woman away. "Wh-What are you doing?! Let me go!"

The woman was dragged all the way to the basement of the building where experiments took place. Pokemon were in cages, trembling in fear of the fact that they could be the next to be experimented on. The Pokemon currently being experimented on screamed in pain as their genes were spliced, their bodies picked and prodded on. The woman was tied down to one of the tables, and the scientists in the room readied their tools so they could begin experimenting on the former employee.

"Please! Don't-" The woman kicked and screamed, but it was no use. The woman's body and the body of a powerful-looking Pokemon were both pushed into a machine. Loud screeches were heard from the inside of the machine as something horrifying took place inside. Finally, the experiment was finished, and the bodies-no, the _one _body was brought out.

The result of the experiment was the two bodies being fused together to make a terrifying mix of human and Pokemon, and the creature roared in pain as the scientists held down the monster. Magenta watched with glee as the creation cried out.

"Why search for and steal strong Pokemon when you can make your own strong Pokemon?" Magenta smiled. "No...not just a Pokemon...something _better_."

His bodyguard nodded in agreement. "The world will soon fear the name of Team Magenta."

Magenta began walking out of the lab and back to his office as one of his bodyguards followed him. "Sir, is there anything else I can do for you?"

"Yes...bring me some milk fo my cookies, won't you? I wouldn't like a dry snack, you know."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Go, Eevee! Use 'Take Down'!"

Eevee smacked his opponent, a Raichu, and it fainted on the spot. The enemy trainer stomped her feet like a child and yelled at me. "Excuse me? I don't think you know who I am!"

I studied the girl. She had short dark pink hair, and she wore a yellow dress with a dark pink vest over it. "You're an emo?"

The girl growled and fished a card out of her vest's pocket. "I'm a high-ranking member of Team Magenta, moron! Got it memorized?" The card was a membership card for something called "Team Magenta". The card read "Team Magenta Grunt No. 341; Ruby"

"Nice to meet you..._Ruby_, but I have no idea who Team Magenta is."

Ruby grinned wickedly. "You will. Wanna come with me back to our team's base? I'm sure they'd love to meet you."

"No thanks-" I began to run away, but the girl forced a strong grip on one of my wrists.

"-I insist." Ruby giggled.

"Please let me go."

"You're coming with me, bi-"

"-EEVEE! GO! KILL!"

Eevee used "Swift" on Ruby, and she fainted just like her weak Raichu. Eevee stuck his tongue out at the Grunt and we both took off running.

As I ran by, the scent of lavenders wafted through the air and someone (or something) slipped a piece of paper into my hand.

Before I could look to see who or what handed me the paper, something tripped me, and the color pink flooded my vision as I tumbled onto the ground. A tiny "hmph" noise behind me sounded child-like and soft. I turned to see a little girl wearing blond pigtails in her hair and a big pink raincoat. A transparent umbrella protected her from the rain, and she glared at me with fiery green eyes.

"Watch where you're going, punk!" The little toddler yelled. She began to walk away, jumping in the puddles on the sidewalk.

_Did she just call me a punk?_ I thought as I saw her walk away. Distracted by the tiny ruffian I didn't realize that the rain started pouring down heavily on me. Once the thought of getting out of the stormy weather crossed my mind, I tossed my shawl over my head and ran to find shelter somewhere.

I made a run for it into a small market that I wouldn't have noticed if I wasn't trying to get out of the rain. I burst through the door, trying to catch my breath as I had been running around outside, trying to look for a dry place to stay. Inside of the market was the usual; masses of produce for sale and shopping carts stacked against each other, rusted and worn. No customers were in the store at the moment, and I guessed that this store wasn't popular with the locals.

The only other person in the room was a cashier with dark brown hair and blue eyes, reading what seemed to be a dirty magazine. Once he finally noticed me he gasped. I screeched in surprise at the sudden noise, and I finally realized why he was upset.

"I-I'm sorry..." I made a dash for the door to go back out into the rain, and the cashier stopped me.

"It's fine," he sighed, "you can stay here until the rain stops."

I halted in my tracks, and the two of us sat there in an awkward silence. You could hear the rain falling quietly overhead, and the soft sound of a small box fan whirred in the background.

The cashier was the first to strike up a conversation. "So, uh...you're a trainer, right?"

"What gave it away?" I tilted my head.

"Your clothes."

I looked down at my outfit. "I mean, I guess it sort of looks like something a trainer would wear."

"The only thing you're missing is the hat." The man said, pointing at my head.

I laughed softly. "Yeah, I'm not really one for hats. They cause stray hairs to pop up, and that makes me uncomfortable..."

The man nodded, then looked grim. "Listen...would you mind not telling nybody what you saw? I could get fired for...you know..."

I grinned. "For you looking at pretty ladies on the job?"

The cashier blushed. "Um...y-yeah..."

I giggled. "You're fine by me, dude."

"Th-thanks. I owe you one. H-Here. Have this on me." The man handed me something that read "X-Attack". "My name's Graham."

"I'm Brave."

"Okay...but what is your name?"

"Brave."

"It may be brave-sounding, but what is your name?"

I grew frustrated. "My name is-"

Suddenly, the front door swung open, and the little girl from earlier walked in. She closed her umbrella and wiped her rainboots on the "Welcome" mat. She then ran over to the aisle where candy was being displayed, and she grabbed a choclate bar. She ran over to the cashier and paid for her treat.

"How's it going, Midori?" The cashier asked the girl.

"Fine. Mommy's a little stressed, though."

"She's been treating okay, right?"

"Of course! Why wouldn't she?" The girl giggled.

The man smiled and ruffled the girl's hair, handing her the choclate. "You be careful out there."

"I will!" Before exiting the store, the girl stuck her tongue out at me, and then she stomped out onto the streets with her umbrella out.

"She's...charming." I grinned awkwardly.

"She's only four years old, so please mind the grief she'll give you. Midori's kinda mean at first, but she'll warm up in no time."

"I can feel the warmth already."

I finally remembered to read the piece of paper in my hand. It read, "FIND THE DAISY STUDDED GIRL IN THE LIBRARY."

What the hell did that mean? Don't get me wrong-I'm interested in what the Daisy Studded Girl has to say.

"Say, Graham...where the local library around here?"

...

"Hey..._hey!_ Listen when people are talking to you, prick!"

A not-so-friendly-looking thug glared down at Zack, who had accidentally bumped into him while walking down the street. He looked up at the man and grinned, pulling a Poke Ball out of his pocket. "If you wanna say anything more, you'll have to go through my friend first."

"You want a battle? Fine! Loser has to pay the winner." The man pulled out a Poke Ball as well.

Zack snickered. "Alright." He then tossed a ball into the air, and a gentle Sylveon hopped out.

The thug laughed. "A Sylveon? What are you, some kind of faggot?" He summoned a Dragonite, the monster roaring as it escaped its capsule.

Zack chuckled again. "You don't know how badly you've screwed up, don't you?" He looked to his girly Sylveon, who winked at the goth boy. "Go, Sylveon! Use 'Draining Kiss'!"

The fairy-type Eevee evolution followed the boy's command and smacked a kiss onto the dragon's cheek. At first, there was no reaction, but after a moment the Dragonite fainted and fell onto the concrete, much to the thug's surprise. "Wh-What the..."

"Sylveon, return!" The creature went back to its home in the ball, and Zack walked up to his opponent who clenched his fists in anger. Nevertheless, Zack held his hand out like there was no problem at all. "My prize, please."

"Why, you-" The thug was about to punch the teenager, until a van with a painting of a Dragonair on it darted across the street, and a man scooped up the child into the vehicle. The hippie in the van yelled "Sorry 'bout that!" as he drove away, leaving the thug confused.

Zack looked up and saw the man who saved him was Professor Bonsai, who was grumpy as he steered the van. "What were you thinking? You could've gotten yourself killed out there!"

Zack shrugged. "I was trying to get experience for my Pokemon."

"Why did you choose that guy of all people?!"

"He started it by being all pissy just 'cuz I accidentally bumped into him."

"We do not use that kind of language, young man!"

"What, 'bump'?"

"No, before that."

"...'Accidentally'?"

"Dammit, Zack-"

...

I asked the librarian about where a book called the _Daisy Studded Girl_ would be found, and she pointed me in the direction of the books in the children's section. I was expecting something more mysterious, but okay.

I got to the shelf of kid's books and found a worn-looking yellow book with the words _The Daisy Studded Girl; A Book of Poems for Children _written in cursive on the side of it. I skimmed through the pages and read one of the poems in the book;

_Do not cry when I am gone_

_For I will never leave_

_You will not be all alone_

_So do not sadly grieve_

_As to a wise man I once harked;_

_"There is no happy ending_

_for we will never depart"_

_So let my love to you be neverending._

I personally thought that was pretty heavy for a kid's book, but you know, whatever. It was pretty.

Something suddenly fell out of the book. I looked at the ground and saw a bookmark made out of construction paper and glued together with glitter-flled glue. It was obviously made by a child, because written on the bookmark was horrible handwriting made in crayon that read; "MIDORI LOVES PUFF"

...I think I know who to give this to.

...

I waved my hand in front of the van as it was coming close to me on the street, and Bonsai stopped to let me in. "So, did you train your Pokemon good? Get anything new?" He asked me.

"My Eevee went to level 25."

"You'll need to have a higher level than that to take on the Gym Leader."

"What? But don't first gyms always have low level Pokemon?"

"Not the International Championships gym. Get to at least level 40 and then you can attempt to win."

I groaned. "What a load of-" Bonsai suddenly came to a halt in the middle of an empty street. "What's wrong?"

Bonsai was in a stunned silence as his eyes carefully watched something in the street. "...It's..."

Zack leaned forward to see what it was. He seemed confused as to why the Professor was so scared.

"What is it?" I asked again.

Zack rolled his eyes and leaned back into his seat. "It's a Jigglypuff."

"Why are so scared of a Jigglypuff, dude?" I said to Bonsai.

"I'm not scared, I'm enthralled! It's no ordinary Jigglypuff," Bonsai said, not taking his eyes off of the creature for even a second, "it's a Shiny Jigglypuff."

Bonsai slowly tiptoed out of the van and into the street, and smiled at the Pokemon. "Hey there, little guy..." He slowly reached for a Poke Ball in his jacket pocket. The Jigglypuff glared at the guy before darting off in a different direction. The Professor followed after it, dodging cars and trucks in the street, the people in the vehicles honking at him as he ran by. Finally, Bonsai met the Shiny in a deadend alleyway.

Bonsai tried to catch his breath. "S-So...do you want to give up and get in the Ball the easy way, or..." He held up another Poke Ball. "...will we have to catch you the old-fashioned way?"

The Jigglypuff huffed, reminding me of the little girl I saw earlier; small, pink and grumpy.

Out of nowhere, the Shiny grew taller and thinner, thinning out to the point that it looked like vapor. Its face grew into the face of a monster, with glowing purple eyes, razor-sharp teeth and clawed hands. It shifted into a lavender color rather than a pink color, and the beast lunged itself at the Professor, holding out its large claws to cut Bonsai into bits and pieces. Bonsai was in a daze as he had no idea what was happening, but he broke free of it just in time so he could summon a Pokemon of his own to fight back.

A Carbink, the bejeweled rock Pokemon, floated out of the Poke Ball and summoned rocks to smash into the monster, but the rocks went right through the ghost-like beast, and scratched the Carbink. However, the Carbink was barely affected as his entire body was made out of diamond and rock, some of the toughest materials known to man.

Bonsai then called out to me. "BRAVE! THE CRYSTAL POKE BALLS!"

I quickly snatched a crystal ball out of my bag and threw it at the supposed spirit. I could here screech and growl like a demon from within the ball, trying to escape. The ball rolled around once, twice...then it finally glowed red, the sign that told the Pokemon had successfully been caught. We sighed a breath of relief as I picked up the ball and and plopped it in an empty pocket in my bag.

"Sheesh, where was your brain, Bonsai? You were chasing after a ghost!" I said, getting back into the van.

"Thanks for helping me out there..." Bonsai tiredly jumped into the driver's seat. "One down, ninety-eight to go!"

Zack and I groaned in response as the van wobbled along the road to the gym.

"Hm? Why are we at the gym? Didn't you say I was light years away from fighting the leader?"

"Well, I think Zack is ready, if you don't mind letting him go first."

We walked out of the van and onto the gym's steps. The whole place looked like that emerald castle from _The Wizard of Oz_. The building's metallic green surface sparkled and shimmered in the sunlight, the plants hanging from the ceiling and the vines growing around the building telling you this was probably a Grass-type gym.

The heavy front doors opened to reveal what would be heaven to plant-lovers-a million different types of flowers and plants grew in the dirt on the sides of the green-tinted crystal walkway to the Gym Leader. Zack ran up to the woman adorned in green, her long blond hair flowing and her rhinestone studded white boots glittering in the lighting. "My name is Gresna, the leader of the Grass-type gym of the International Championships. And who might you be?"

Zack smirked. "Zack Watanabe, at your service."

"Watanabe..." Gresna looked to me. "And you're the girl I met earlier. Who are you?"

"B-Brave Leonhart, ma'am. But I'm not here to battle yet. It's just him today." I gestured to Zack.

"Nonsense. No matter how strong you are, once you enter my domain, you battle me. Come, child. Even if you lose, you'll still earn experience for your Pokemon."

"Whoa! I, uh, appreciate the offer, but I don't know if I can just yet..."

"Yeah, she's weak. She's nothing special." Zack said.

Ow. That hurt.

Gresna glared at the goth boy. "You don't deserve to be in my presence just yet, Trainer. I'll let the girl go first. I sense more potential in her than you."

I slowly stepped up to the platform where people would battle the gym leader. Zack stomped down the stairs past me where he whisperred into my ear; "Don't think you're hot shit just because you get to go first."

I scoffed and looked at him in disgust as he walked away. He glared back at me as he picked at the wristbands on his hands. I rolled my eyes and joined the gym leader on the platform.

Gresna grinned at me. "Let's begin."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

The ivory platform shimmered as the lighting changed, huge cameras came out from all corners to capture footage. I looked at the cameras in confusion. "What are those doing here?"

"These are the International Championships, my dear! We're streaming this battle live to the whole world!" Gresna held her arms out wide for affect.

My jaw dropped. "You're kidding."

"I'm afraid not. You better get to battling, Brave. I'm sure you wouldn't want to be made a fool of by the people at home."

I gulped, and then tossed out the ball that held my Eevee. Eevee hopped out expecting a weak opponent to fight, but once it checked its surroundings, it freaked out like I did, trembling a bit as it looked at the cameras watching us all. Gresna brought out a Venusaur on her first turn, which astounded me. A Venusaur? Seriously? How is that fair for the first gym?! Then again, these were the International Championships...what am I doing in a place like this?!

Eevee took a few steps back in fear, looking like it could faint with one hit due its fragility. A tiny voice yelled in the background; "You can beat that weakling, mama!" I looked to see it was Midori, the girl from earlier.

I waved at the girl and smiled, but she just stuck her tongue out at me again. I sighed and went back to my battle. "Eevee, use 'Take Down'!"

Eevee attacked Gresna, and the Venusaur barely lost any HP. It was a level 25 Pokemon against a level 40 Pokemon, and I think you can guess which person's Pokemon is the weaker here. I was pretty sure Gresna had at least 4 more Pokemon with her, probably more powerful than her first. Was every battle with the International Gym Leaders going to be like fighting an Elite Four member?

"Venusaur, use 'Petal Dance'!" Gresna ordered her Pokemon.

Venusaur attacked, and it completely wiped out the HP of my Eevee. He fainted, and I groaned. "I told you I wasn't good enough yet. I'm already out of Pokemon."

"No you're not. You've still got one more, see? In your bag?"

"What are you ta-" I gasped, looking at the Crystal Poke Ball poking out of a pocket in my bag. Could I use a Ghost Pokemon-a real, actual spirit-in a battle? "Um...come out, Jigglypuff!"

A Jigglypuff exited the ball and still looked grumpy. Midori gasped in response to seeing the Pokemon. "That...that looks like..."

Gresna's mouth hung open. "No...that can't be..." She looked closer at the creature. "It looks just like...her..."

Midori began crying and ran onto the platform. "My Puff!"

The Jigglypuff no longer looked angered, but overjoyed. It ran over to the little girl and joined her in a long hug.

"What's going on?" I asked Gresna.

Gresna still looked at the Shiny Jigglypuff in disbelief. "That's my daughter's pet..."

"...So?"

"...her pet died last year. It...was killed by a gang..."

...

"Do you really think it's time, sir?"

"It's time."

Ruby walked alongside Alonzay Magenta down the hallways of the building formerly known as the Pokemon Tower.

"But what if people figure out where our hideout is? What if people find out you're the one behind all this?" Ruby seemed genuinely worried.

"They won't. I'll make sure of that." Magenta said with his hands behind his back. "Go in with the other six and use whatever measures needed."

Ruby joined the group of six people dressed in outfits similar to hers, but each person's clothes were a different color of the rainbow;

Team Magenta Grunt No. 342; Naranja (orange)

Team Magenta Grunt No. 343; Jaune (yellow)

Team Magenta Grunt No. 344; Khloros (green)

Team Magenta Grunt No. 345; Blau (blue)

Team Magenta Grunt No. 346; Wisteria (indigo)

Team Magenta Grunt No. 347; Momoiro (violet)

Ruby held her head high, leading the group outside."Let's go introduce Team Magenta to the world. I'm sure it'll be pleased to meet us."

...

Back at home, Brave's parents were preparing dinner while they listened to the TV in the living room.

"So you will not _believe _what that girl did again at work today-" Brave's mother began.

A newscaster on television spoke up. "_The first contestant to go up against Gym Leader Gresna of the International Championships is a girl named Brave Leonhart..._"

The mother spit her drink and darted into the living room to make sure what she heard was correct, accidentally bumping into her husband in the process. "OH. MY. _GAWD_."

"Jeez, what's the matter?" The father stumbled into the living room. "Wait...is that Brave?!"

"_Yes_!"

"How did she get into the _International _Championships?! Wouldn't she need more experience for that?"

"Who cares? My baby's famous!" The mother squealed like a teenage girl.

The husband sighed, but was pleased with Brave's ability to take on such a large feat so quickly. Brave really was, well..._brave_. He just worried that she may not be able to finish what she had started. He and the mother sat and watched the match until something peculiar happened;

"_Miss Brave has used a Revive on her Eevee and brought out an astounding Shiny Jigglypuff! And sh-hey! G-Give that back!_" Seven people wearing seven different colored outfits broke into the arena, and one of them held a knife to their daughter's neck.

...

"Hello and welcome to the grand revealing of Team Magenta! I'm Ruby, your host for tonight! Let's get the party started, huh?" Ruby had stolen the microphone from the newscaster and yelled to the viewers at home. "Let's welcome our lovely group straight from the Team Magenta base, the Symphonic Seven! Let's give 'em a hand!"

When nobody clapped, Ruby held up a gun, and immediately the crowd burst into an applaud.

"Now let's get this straight; Team Magenta is not here to hurt you. However, if you interfere, we will have no choice but to use force. Got it? Team Magenta was created to help the people of the world, not harm them! You just have to cooperate, that's all! Now begin your cooperation by handing over your Pokemon, each and every last one of them." Ruby grinned at the crowd watching the spectacle, and first looked to me and Zack for our Pokemon. "Hand 'em over, kiddos! You'll be the first to save the world by helping our Team!"

Eevee trembled in fear, and I shook my head. "Please, no..."

They scooped up Eevee anyways and tore my bag off of my arm and poured its contents out onto the ground, picking up the egg that was once inside. "Well, I wonder what Pokemon will come out of this!" The one in green saw the Crystal Poke Ball and eyed it suspiciously. "What kind of Poke Ball is this?"

The Shiny Jigglypuff growled at the man in green. The man laughed in response. "Oh! So it's yours. Well then...won't you come back home?"

The ghost screeched and howled when the man tried to steal it, and Midori tried to interfere. "Don't hurt my Puff!"

"GET OFF!"

The man hit the child, causing her to cry, and the Jigglypuff had enough. It transformed into the fog-like substance and clawed and scratched at the man, kicking him when he fell to the ground. "P-Please, stop!..."

Ruby scoffed at the man. "Idiot gets taken down by a Jigglypuff." She gasped when I escaped her grasp, the knife no longer being held to my neck. She then pointed her gun at me. "Get back here, kid. You don't want to make any regrets."

Eevee leaped out of the man in blue's arms and chomped down on Ruby's ankle. She dropped the gun, and I made a grab for it. "Nobody move!" I pointed the gun at the rainbow-colored Team Magenta members. "If any of you touch me, I'll shoot her!" I said, now pointing the gun at Ruby's head.

The man in yellow laughed. "You wouldn't."

I cocked the gun and looked the man dead in the eyes. "Would I?"

Zack gawked at me in surprise, as if to say, _You're not serious!_

I licked my lips nervously as sweat beaded on my forehead and glared at him. Is he _trying_ to get me killed?! What if someone notices him looking at me like he knows I won't do it?!

Before anyone could do or say anything, the Symphonic Seven gasped as they heard police sirens outside. "Let's get out of here!"

They all ran off with the Pokemon they had stolen from people, leaving Ruby behind while she was still at gunpoint. "HEY! WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!" She sreeched. "DON'T LEAVE ME HERE!"

A policewoman halted the other six people with her weapon. "Hands in the air! NOW!"

The six held up their hands slowly, one of them holding a Poke Ball in their hand. Out of nowhere, the girl threw the Poke Ball in the air, and a Kadabra appeared out of it. "KADABRA, USE 'TELEPORT'!"

Just as the policewoman fired her bullet, the group of six shimmered out of the spot they were in and disappeared.

...

"Hey! Hands off the hair!" Ruby yelled at a police officer as she was forced into the back of a policecar, her handcuffs jingling and jangling.

Gresna sighed and looked to me. "You know, we still have time to finish that battle, Brave."

I groaned. "Do we really?"

"If you won't go, then I will!" Zack sneered

"You know what, I think I'll try again." I looked at the Jigglypuff. "Excuse me, but is it alright with you if you would join me in battle? You don't have to if you don't want to."

The Jigglypuff's thoughts wandered, and Midori walked up to it. "You always wanted to battle with a Trainer, Puff. Since you won't be able to fight with me, you can fight with her." The Midori and Jigglypuff finally smiled at me. It accepted my request for it to join me in battle.

Gresna and I rejoined on top of the ivory platform where we were watched by god only knows how many people. She brought out her Venusaur, and I brought out my Jigglypuff. I guessed it was fair to use Jigglypuff since I had caught her with my own strength like how anybody would catch a regular Pokemon, but I wouldn't have let her fight if she didn't want to. It was kind of her to choose me over returning to her Poke Ball.

"Jigglypuff, use 'Sing'!"

Jigglypuff lulled the Venusaur to sleep with a soft, quiet song. "Now use 'Tackle'!"

The Jigglypuff attacked the Venusaur and took out quarter of its HP. The opposing Pokemon was still asleep on his turn, so he was hit once more, twice, and finally he was knocked out. I mean...knocked out again. You know what I mean.

"Well, Brave! I must say you're all offense and no defense! You don't waste turns bringing up your Defense Stat or even to raise your Attack Stat! Attack, attack, attack! 'Take out the HP quick before they can hit us!' You're going up against mutiple Pokemon that are Level 40 and over with only one Level 40 Pokemon of your own. Do you really want to stick to this strategy?" Gresna said as she picked up another Poke Ball.

I frowned. "What's wrong with an all-offensive strategy?"

"I'm just saying you've got to be careful about what you do or else you won't make it through the Championships." Gresna tossed out her Poke Ball. "Come out, Gogoat!"

Again, Jigglypuff lulled the opposing Pokemon to sleep, and it took a few turns to take him out, but we got the Gogoat to faint. Gresna sighed and brought out another creature, a Florges, to attack. It hit Jigglypuff and took out about half of her HP, but then it got drowsy and began to snore. After four hits it was down, and the same thing happened again and again until Gresna was on her last Pokemon, a Trevenant.

Jigglypuff missed her attack and the Trevenant almost took out my Pokemon's HP, but a sliver remained left.

"You gonna be okay over there, Brave? Jigglypuff's looking a little deathly. No pun intended." Gresna said.

I bit my lip as it quivered a bit, my nervousness starting to show. I had no other Pokemon strong enough to take out a Level 50 Trevenant, and since I wasn't anticipating a battle I hadn't brought any Potions with me. Then I remembered the X-Attack Graham had given me earlier. With it I could up my Attack and maybe even land a critical hit. If I could up Jigglypuff's Attack, then maybe she had a chance of one-hit killing the Trevenant (not literal killing, mind you) and if the Trevenant somehow missed on the next turn, I could make my move and knock him out. I was going to take a gamble and see if it would work.

"I'll use an X-Attack on Jigglypuff this turn." I gave Jigglypuff the X-Attack and she absorbed its power to strengthen her Attack.

"Too little too late, Brave." Gresna grinned triumphantly. "Trevenant, use 'Hex'!"

Ghostly purple lights filled the room and went to attack Jigglypuff.

And.

They.

_Missed_.

Gresna gasped. "Wh-What?!"

I smiled. "Jigglypuff, use 'Sing'!"

The Trevenant fell asleep, and I called to Jigglypuff to use "Body Slam". The opposing Pokemon was still asleep the next turn, and the final blow knocked out its remaining HP. I had won.

Gresna stared at me with disbelieving eyes. Her breathing became thin, and she closed her eyes to breathe in deep and then let out a long sigh. She finally walked over to hand me something.

"This is the Entropy Badge." She said. "You've earned it."

The Entropy Badge was shaped like a rose, and it was golden-colored, sparkling in the dim lighting of the gym. "Thank you."

I walked over to Midori and gently handed her Jigglypuff. I then pulled the bookmark out of my pocket. "This belongs to you, right?"

Midori's eyes widened at the sight of it. She quickly took it into her tiny hands. "I've been looking all over for this! Where did you find it?"

"In a book called the 'Daisy Studded Girl'."

"...That's...that's my favorite book...I must have left it in there..." Midori's eyes began to water. "Me and my Puff made this bookmark together...thank you...thank you so much..." Midori buried her face into the stomach of Jigglypuff, the Pokemon smiling and rubbing Midori's back to calm her down. The girl finally looked up after a while. "Do...Do you really have to go, Puff?"

The Jigglypuff nodded, and looked up to me. I smiled at Midori. "I think Jigglypuff wanted to give you that bookmark before she went to heaven so that you could remember that she'll always be there with you, even when she's not physically here."

Midori nodded, and shared a hug with Jigglypuff for one last time. And then, finally, Jigglypuff looked up and smiled, then vanished in flash of sparkling light. Midori sobbed and sobbed once Jigglypuff was gone, and Gresna held her child to calm her down just like her daughter's Pokemon did.

Later, once everyone had calmed down, Gresna finally gave Zack his battle, and he won (showoff), ending in Gresna handing Zack an Entropy Badge. Zack walked off all smug and proud, holding his head up high as he walked off of the platforming. He was once again picking at his wristbands like he was trying to fit them right.

I rolled my eyes at him. "Don't mind him. He's stupid."

Gresna smiled down at me. "Thank you."

I blushed. "F-For what?"

"For helping my daughter. That was very kind."

"Um...you-you're welcome...I think..."

Gresna ruffled my hair. "Come fight me again one day, won't you?"

I nodded. "I will."

As me, Zack, and Bonsai walked out of the gym, I remembered the last words of the poem from that book that girl loved so much;

_There is no happy ending_

_for we will never depart_

_So let my love to you be neverending..._

Suddenly, Bonsai's cellphone rang. "Hello?...Professor Elm!...yes...uh-huh...no way. You're kidding. You aren't? Oh. My. God."

Zack began chewing on his hard candy again. "What's the matter?"

Bonsai grinned down at us with wide eyes. "We found it. We finally found it."

"Found what?" I asked.

"The Legendary Pokemon," Bonsai said, catching his breath, "Laverous."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: The Great Lavender King of Pokemon**

I could have sworn Bonsai was so depressed-looking that he could have fallen to the almighty Mary Jane and start 420-Blazing-It so he could drown his troubles away like he would usually do, but that phone-call from Professor Elm was like a godsend, and it was as if the very heavens had blessed Bonsai. I could almost hear heavenly music playing in the background...

I tilted my head. "Laverous...I've never heard of the guy."

"You haven't, but you will! Laverous is known as the 'Great Lavender King of Pokemon'. He's a giant purple, dragon-like creature that is said to bring the souls of the dead to the afterlife, and when Halloween comes around, he is said to bring the spirits back into the living world to let them visit their loved ones."

"I was gonna say he sounded like Barney the Happy Dinosaur, but then you went and made it weird." Zack spoke with a candy in his cheek.

"Spit that out! You've already had like six of those today! You're gonna get a cavity!" Bonsai scolded the boy.

"Make me." Zack stuck out his piercing covered tongue.

Bonsai's left eye twitched, and he sighed and carried on. "Come on, get in the van."

"Where are we going?"

"New Bark Town."

"What's with everything being named after trees?!"

...

Bonsai met up with a man named Professor Elm, who was a round-faced man of an older age than Bonsai, also wearing the symbolic white coat that Pokemon Professors would always wear.

"Kids, this is Professor Elm. He's an expert in the field of the science of Pokemon births and eggs, but the two of us have been studying lately on a newly discovered Pokemon."

Zack and I shook the new Professor's hand. (Well, Zack just sort of nudged it and walked away in disinterest.) Elm gave a look of confusion to Zack as he wandered off, but he finally looked back to me. "Nice to meet you, Miss...?"

"...Brave."

"Miss Brave! Well, isn't that a cool name! Are you and the boy both Bonsai's trainers?"

I smiled because someone had finally figured out my name was a noun and not an adjective. "Yes, sir."

"So, are you two, you and the boy..." Elm whispered the last part. "..._together_? Are you into the 'Bad Boy' type?"

I blushed. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO NONONONONONONO, WE AREN'T TOGETHER IN ANY OF THOSE CIRCUMSTANCES!"

Elm gave a hearty laugh. "I'm kidding! The look on your face!..."

I bit my lip. "Eh heh heh...yeah..."

Bonsai cleared his throat. "Anyways, Professor Elm, you said something about Laverous earlier?"

Elm looked up. "Hm? Oh, yes! Come with me and I'll show you..."

Elm led us into a dark room with huge widescreen TV's on the walls, state-of-the-art computers lining the black desks in the room. Elm went up to the main computer in the center of the room and clicked on a video to play on the computer, and what showed up on the tiny computer screen showed up on the widescreen televisions. The camera veered back and forth, as if the cameraman was trying to hurry and catch up to who (or what) he was filming.

The video took place in a forest of dead, gray trees with a murky overcast on the sky above. Suddenly, the sound of dozens of trees tumbling down was heard in the distance, as if something huge had knocked them all over. Something flew across the bright, overcast sky, and you could hear the deep roar that bellowed across the air, making the cameraman scream in fright. Elm paused the video just as the creature darted across the sky, capturing a blurry, but still visible still of the Pokemon. "This is Laverous, Pokemon Number 0."

"0? Why Number 0?" I asked.

"He is from the Kanto Region, and you know how Pokemon are ranked by Region, right? Like how the Kanto Region's Pokemon are ranked as the first 150 Pokemon, and how Johto's are ranked as the next couple hundred, and so forth? It would be strange to put a Pokemon from the Kanto Region next to a Pokemon from the Kalos Region, so if Laverous is Number 0, which is the number before 1, the number of a Pokemon from the Kanto Region, Laverous can be grouped together with his rightful Region."

"If we can prove to the Pokemon Science Board that Laverous is real, then we will have made the greatest scientific advancement since discovering Pokemon like Arceus or Diancie! Maybe even Mew! Laverous was said to just be a legend drummed up by ancient folklore, but if we can prove he's real, it would be like saying a fairytale is true. His power is beyond anyone's comprehension, and we're the first to document it! Isn't this exciting?" Bonsai rambled on like an excited little girl.

"Can I catch it?" Zack raised his hand in the background.

"...Probably not."

"Aw! Why?"

"Laverous is a Legendary that's hard to catch even for us seasoned Pokemon Professors! No offense, but I don't think anyone can capture him."

"But," Elm cut in, "we can still document him and get him down in the list of Pokemon that exist."

"Right. Even though I'd love to study him and his power to supposedly take the souls of humans when they die..."

"What? Oh, that whole thing about Laverous being the Grim Reaper or something! What is that all about?" I asked Bonsai and Elm.

"Ugh, don't encourage them..." Zack sighed.

Elm's eyes lit up. "I'm glad you asked! See, there's this old tale about a girl and her friend who loved each other very much. But there was a man who was in love with the girl, so the man killed the friend the girl spent so much time with because he thought the girl was in love with the friend and the man wanted the friend out of the way. When the man came to the girl and confessed his love to her, the girl refused to love him back, so the man killed her too. The girl's ghost wanted revenge, so she dug into the most ancient of spells of dark magic to create a Pokemon so powerful, so terrifying, that the man would be tortured by this creature forever as revenge. However, even though the man was killed by this Pokemon, the girl's ghost still wanders the world looking for her friend, as she did not know that her companion was recently killed by the man who loved her. Some say this is the girl's punishment for taking a life, even if the life deserved to be taken away..."

"The Pokemon the girl made, however, was still left in the world even after he had finished the job of getting rid of the killer. So, with his connection to the afterlife, the creature decided to take the souls of Pokemon and humans when they died and help lead them to the afterlife just like a Grim Reaper would." Bonsai pushed his glasses up his nose. "Whether or not the folklore behind the Pokemon is true, Laverous is still real for sure, and we want to be the ones who lead a scientific revolution with his discovery."

I nodded. "I can understand why this is all so important to you. To find out that something you've heard about from fairytales is real...it must be so amazing."

"Yeah, but you already know that feel, right?" Bonsai laughed.

Elm eyed Bonsai oddly. Bonsai grinned. "Sorry. Inside joke."

"As I was saying-this video isn't great proof of Laverous to show to the Pokemon Science Board since it's all blurry and the Pokemon is flying so fast, so I'll have to go out to the same place I saw him and catch better footage. But at least we know he's real-Bonsai saw him a couple of times before, so it isn't just me imagining things." Elm sniffed the air. "And what is that awful smell? Sulfur? Trash? No...it can't be..._Pot?_"

Bonsai whistled as he strutted out of the room with his hands in his pockets.

Elm rolled his eyes. He picked up a small touch-screen cell-phone-like object and handed it to me. "This is a Ghost-Dex. While you're out and about traveling through the regions, study all the Ghost-type Pokemon you find and put the info into the Dex. They are the most unusual type of Pokemon out there, and I want to get all the facts on them I can. I want to know if it's really true whether or not ghost Pokemon are literal ghosts, spirits that have back from the dead. Are Ghost Pokemon the spirits of dead Pokemon, or are they just Pokemon with ghost-like abilities? I want you to help me answer this question."

I nodded. "I'll do my best."

"And if you see Laverous, by some stroke of luck..." Elm's expression grew serious. "...don't bother with him. He's a very dangerous creature. Leave me to the study of him, okay?"

...

A few days later, I began writing about my findings to Professor Elm in a letter.

_Dear Professor;_

_I have been investigating the circumstances of Ghost-type Pokemon just as you've requested. Personally, I've always been one to choose Grass-type Pokemon to battle with, since they know many useful moves such as "Sleep Powder", poison-type moves, and moves that drain health from the enemy Pokemon. However, I must agree that the Ghost-type is one of the most fascinating types out there. They are elusive and mysterious, seeming to have almost god-like powers when it comes to certain species of the Ghost-type._

_Some can cast curses; some are said to steal your soul when you merely look at them. Though this is all mere folklore, Ghost Pokemon do give off an ominous aura even so. Perhaps it's true that certain species have ghost-like abilities, and other species are _real _ghosts. For example, I've researched certain Poke-Dex entries that say certain Pokemon are made of the spirits of either dead humans or dead Pokemon. Pumpkaboo is said to be a pumpkin possessed by spirits, while another type of ghost Pokemon is rumored to be the ghost of a human who constantly mourns over its death by crying and carrying around the face it had when it was alive._

_Then there are other Ghost Pokemon who have ghost-like abilities but are not made of real ghosts. The ghost-types from Kanto are prime examples of this. They're ghostly and can make a room cold when they enter it (like a ghost would) but they are not actual spirits..._

I looked up from my letter. "Oh my god, he's not wearing a band t-shirt."

I stared in awe at Zack, who was wearing a blue t-shirt over a pair of denim jeans. He was still wearing his black wristbands, but for the most part he looked..._not _goth.

"Ha ha." He plucked some Poke Balls out of his backpack. "Maybe sometimes people spill juice all over their clothes and have to change them."

"You drink juice? I thought you drank the blood of your victims, judging the way you usually dress." Bonsai joked.

Zack played with his Pokemon, and then gave a belly-rub to his Sylveon. I hardly imagined him to be the kind of person who owned a Sylveon of all of the Pokemon he could have chosen to be his main companion. I guess he's run into a lot of people who had dragon-types and tried to be all menacing and powerful, and Zack wanted to make a comeback with a fairy-type. Even though it's sweet he went through all of the mushy-gushy lovey-dovey stuff you have to go through when you want to evolve Eevee into Sylveon, I still think he's a d-bag. "_Don't think just because you get to go first means you're hot shit._" HA! He thinks he's something, but he's not!

I looked upon the boys as they were playing with their Pokemon, and I wondered why they looked so calm. We were going after ghosts, and how could you not be constantly freaked out by the fact that ghost are ACTUALLY REAL?! If ghosts are real, then what else is real? Vampires? Werewolves? Demons? Angels? The Devil? _God?!_ Jeez, I'm on edge! Anything could be out to get us right now, and I don't know if we can handle it.

Maybe Zack didn't really believe any of that ghost stuff actually happened. He doesn't really seem the type to believe in all of that, so maybe he just thought it was all a dream. Bonsai, however, probably thought what happened was just a drug-induced hallucination. But then again, he's got a very close tie to things that are related to the dead. Maybe he is okay with it all. Whatever the case is, _I'm _not okay with this at all, and from now on I'm always sleeping with the lights on. Not that it would keep the ghosts away, it's just...you know...the dark is scary...whatever! We're moving on...

"I'm outta Poke Puffs." Zack shook crumbs out of an empty bag.

"Let me guess, _you _ate them, you sugar-whore." Bonsai got into the van.

Zack's pale face turned pink. "_Sugar-whore?!_"

Bonsai laughed. "Get in the car, kids. We'll go pick up some groceries."

When we finally got to a store, I hopped out of the van to see that it was the same market that Graham worked at. I pushed the glass front doors open and expected to see Graham reading a dirty magazine in an empty shop, but it was a bit different; a girl with golden blond hair, dazzling blue eyes and shining white pearls for teeth leaning on the check-out counter where Graham was sitting. He looked at us and his eyes lit up. "Brave! Hi!"

I waved, and I immediately recognized the girl from the parade in Lavender Town. The girl who gave me the candy...yeah, I remember! I ran up to the girl. "H-Hi. Weren't you in the Lavender Town parade?"

Graham smiled at the girl. "Aw, she remembers you! Yeah, she was a part of the Day of the Dead float. You looked so pretty in that orange dress, Kimber..."

Surprisingly enough, the girl curled her lips in disgust as she looked down at me. "Who is _she?_"

Graham tilted his head in confusion. "She's just a girl I met before."

"'Just a girl'? You're into her, aren't you?"

"What?! She's a teenager!"

"So?"

"...I'm 21!"

"That won't stop you from seeing younger girls, won't it?" The blond snarled.

"Kimber, what's gotten into you? You've been acting so weird all day."

"_I'm _acting weird? No, you're the problem here, you pedo!" Kimber went to choke Graham, but Bonsai held her back.

"STOP! HE'S NOT SEEING THE GIRL!" Bonsai yelled as Kimber fought against his grip.

Finally, Bonsai threw the girl outside when he saw she wouldn't listen, and locked the door behind her. Kimber clawed and scratched at the glass, leaving marks on the door. Eventually she gave up and stomped away, and I stared in complete and utter confusion as to why that girl was so crazy. She seemed so nice when we first met-then again, I had only met her for a second...

"Jeez, I'm sorry, guys! She's usually a very kind person! I don't know why, but she's been so cruel lately..." Graham sighed. "Have some Poke Puffs on me." He plucked some bags of Poke Puffs off of the shelves and piled them in my hands.

"Th-Thank you..." I said with a muffled voice underneath the mountain of treats.

...

Zack went outside before us to go ahead and feed his Pokemon, because apparently they were starving. He emptied out the bag and little treats fell out, the Pokemon jumping for the snacks in response. Zack laughed at the littles creatures and rubbed the chin of his Sylveon, who was enjoying a pink Poke Puff. All was calm until a shadow fell upon the boy.

"Nice bracelets."

Zack looked up to see the girl from earlier standing above him. "What do you want?"

"Nothing. I just wanted to tell you how much I love those wristbands. May I see them?"

"No!" The girl pulled the wristbands off of Zack's wrists.

Kimber laughed as she looked upon the boy's wrists. "Oh boy, you've got a story to tell, don't you?"

Underneath the wristbands were multiple scars that were hidden away by the bracelets. Zack grinded his teeth. "_Give them back._"

Kimber grinned. "Make me."

Zack made a grab for the wristbands, but Kimber was faster and taunted the boy by waving the bracelets in his face. Finally, the girl threw the wristbands in a puddle nearby, stomping them into the muddy waters. Zack bit his lip. "Stop-"

"-Stop what? Showing the world how much of loser you are? Let them see your scars! Obviously you don't care about people that much, so why should you care about their judgement of you? Awful moody, are you not?"

Zack felt like he could cry. "P-Please...I don't want them to see..."

"What was that? Say it a little louder, would ya?"

Zack glared up at the girl with tears in his eyes. "_PLEASE_."

Kimber let her foot off of the wristbands. "Thank you."

The boy quickly shoved the bracelets onto his wrists, hiding the cuts underneath.

Before he could do anything more, Kimber leaned in to whisper into the boy's ear. "You know, I've been in your situation before. Do you know the best thing to do if you have this problem?"

Zack sighed. "What?"

The girl's empty eyes widened as a wide smile grew across her face. "KILL YOURSELF."

The tears began to roll down Zack's face as Kimber cackled as she walked away. Zack sat on his knees and sobbed and sobbed. His eyes were red by the time me and Bonsai came outside.

I gasped. "What's wrong?"

Zack quickly stood up once he noticed people were watching. "Nothing."

Bonsai put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Can I help you wi-"

"-DON'T TOUCH ME!" Zack slapped the hand off of his shoulder, making him stand up and finally reveal his face, which was covered in dirt and tears. Me and Bonsai gasped, never seeing the boy cry before. Before we knew it, Zack had started running away.

Bonsai began chasing after him, but he gave up when it was obvious that Zack must have been a marathon-runner to go that fast. The Professor tried catching his breath, feeling like he could faint. "Wh-What's his problem?!"

I watched Zack as he ran off in the distance, his mud-covered sneakers taking him as far as he could go. Why was he crying? Did that lady come back? I didn't know what was going on...

...But even though he was mean to me...I was sad to see him cry...he's usually so strong. What broke him?

...

Zack finally halted to catch his breath behind a building, letting out the sobs he had been holding back. His Pokemon heard his cries and came out to see him, sad looks upon their faces as they saw the tears roll down his face.

The Sylveon whimpered, softly patting the boy's shoulder with its paw. Zack looked down at the Pokemon and took it into a gentle embrace. All of the Pokemon cuddled around the teenager to make him feel better.

Someone finally heard the heavy sobs coming from the back of the building and went to check to see what was going on. "Hello?"

Zack gasped and quickly got up on his feet to run away, but a hand grabbed his hand to stop him.

"It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you."

Zack slowly turned to see the gentle face of an older woman who had a warm smile for the boy. "Wh-What do you want?"

"I want to know why you're crying. Can I help you with anything?"

"I'm fine."

Zack tried to pull away, but the grip on his hand held him to stay. "Please let me help you."

"I don't want any help." The boy finally pulled himself away.

The woman sighed as the teenager walked away. "You know, if you keep running away from your problems, nothing will ever get better."

Zack stopped in his tracks. "What do you care?"

"I care because you look like you need a helping hand. You need to stop telling yourself you're a bad person, because you're not."

"What do you mean, 'stop telling yourself you're a bad person'?"

The woman pointed at the boy's wrists, which were revealing themselves since the wristbands were accidentally pulled up off of the wrists as Zack was running.

"It's none of your business." Zack covered up his wrists.

"It may not be, but that doesn't mean you couldn't use some help."

The boy let out a heavy sigh. "How do you suppose you're going to help?"

"We can start off by going to see my daughter. She's not too far away-I promise it's just a quick walk over."

"If I go, will you leave me alone?"

The woman nodded, and Zack followed her onto the sidewalk, the hot concrete sizzling below their footsteps. The two finally came to an empty graveyard, where Zack looked around to the other girl.

"I don't understand. Does she work here?"

The woman pointed down. "No, she's here. Meet Angeline, my daughter."

Zack looked down and saw they were standing before a grave that read "Angeline Carter; 2001-2014".

The boy took a few shakey steps back. "Wh-wha...what the..."

"My daughter followed the same path you did. She hurt herself and dealed with all of her problems by herself, thinking there wasn't any hope. And then finally, one day she just couldn't take it anymore and took her own life." Ms. Carter held back a sob. "You don't want to live here with her, do you? Buried six feet under because you just couldn't take it anymore?"

Zack bit his lip. "I...I'm sorry..."

"No, I'm sorry you feel bad enough to hurt yourself like this. But it needs to stop. If you keep doing this, you're going to die. It's selfish to want to do things like this. You know why?"

The teenager stared at the ground in silence.

"It's because even though you may think people don't care about you, there's always someone out there who would miss you if you were gone."

"THAT'S BECAUSE NO ONE DOES!" The boy shouted, letting out a sob. "No one...no one cares...my parents hate me, the people I travel with hate me..."

"Why do you think that?"

"WHY?! Because my Mom always tells me how I'm not worth anything, that she wishes I was never born! That I should just die...And my father never speaks a word to me. He just comes home from work and goes straight to bed...and...now they're getting a divorce...this stupid girl I travel with...she...I bet she hates me, too...I'm always taking out my anger on her-" Zack fell to the ground crying again, and the older woman kneeled down to his level.

"It's okay. We can start over. Tell the girl you didn't mean the things you said to her. Just explain that you're going through a tough time right now, and I'm sure if she's a good person, she'll understand."

"No! She hates me..."

Ms. Carter tilted her head. "Has she ever said so?"

"No...but she probably does...I'm always mean to her..."

"Then don't be mean to her! Apologize and maybe you can be friends. Maybe she's not as bad a person as you think. If you've been bullying her all this time, then you wouldn't have gotten to know who she is! The _real _girl behind the emotions and words she gave you when you upset her."

Zack sighed and slowly nodded.

"And while we're at it, maybe the reason why you're parents are getting divorced is because your father doesn't want to raise you with a mean mother? Maybe your Dad doesn't speak to you because he's stressed out about everything that's going on. With taking care of work and the divorce problems, like who's getting custody of you, I'm sure that's a lot for him to carry on his back." Ms. Carter pulled her cellphone out of her pocket. "Tell you what-why don't you call your father and talk to him about how you feel?"

Zack's jaw dropped. "What?! No way! He'll...he'll be too busy for me...he won't care-"

"-How do you know if you've never talked to him?"

The boy thought for a moment, then with a trembling hand he slowly took the phone into his hands and dialed his father's phone number. "H-Hello?..."

"Zack? What's the matter?" His father sounded worried on the other end.

"I...I wanted to...to..."

"...To?"

Zack held back some tears. "I want to...talk to you..."

"Okay. About what?"

"Do...do you love me?"

There was silence on the other end for a moment.

"...Of course I do. Why wouldn't I?"

Again, the teenager began to cry. "Because...you never talk to me!"

"I...I'm sorry...I've been so busy lately. I can't sit down and rest for even a moment with my work...please don't think that I don't love you because of it. I love you more than you could ever know. You're my strong boy! I would never trade you for anything in the world."

Zack's eyes widened. "You...you love me?"

"More than anything. So don't cry, my boy. If you're lonely, then why didn't you speak up? You know, maybe on my next day off, we could hang out together, if you'd like..."

"Can we...can we go hang out at the comic book store like we used to?"

"If that's what you want, it's yours."

Zack smiled. "O-okay. I'll call you when I have time to come home and do that, alright?"

"Oh, so now _you're _the one who doesn't have time?" Mr. Watanabe laughed.

Zack laughed. "I...I love you."

"I love you, too. Bye."

"Bye."

Zack handed the phone back to Ms. Carter. "Well?" She asked.

"...He...he said he loves me."

Ms. Carter smiled. "Of course he does, honey. Just...know that people really do need you, okay? Don't ever doubt that."

"I won't..." Zack looked down. "I'm sorry for bothering you..."

"Don't be sorry. Be glad that you are loved. I'm happy that I helped you realize that."

Zack smiled up at the woman. "What's your name?"

"Marigold. And you are?"

"Zack."

The two shook hands. "Nice to meet you." Marigold pulled a card out of her wallet and handed it to the boy. "Here. I'm the school counselor at Johto High. Call me if you wanna talk again or need help. Always know that if you speak up about what's bothering you, there is hope."

Zack nodded, and Marigold laughed. "Sorry, I know I'm being really preachy. I don't mean to be."

The boy shook his head. "No, preachy is good sometimes. Thank you."

The woman waved. "I gotta go. Bye."

"See ya later."

As the woman walked away, Zack reached into his back pocket to take out the knife he would hurt himself with. He wasn't ready to part with it just yet. No...he still felt worthless, like he didn't deserve to be alive, that he deserved to bleed and get hurt...but...there was a glint of hope in the future. Slowly but surely Zack would get help and finally decide to put the blade down and respect himself for once. And maybe when he finally would be able to accept himself, maybe he would accept others too, and become friends with people for once...

...

I kept running around nearby areas to find Zack. "Hello? Zack? Where are you? If you come out, I'll give you, uh...band merch? Is that what you like?"

I ran around in places that looked like good places to hide in, thinking Zack may be sitting and hiding his crying from me. Then I found dirt with footsteps in it that looked about the size of Zack's feet. I followed the tracks until I finally accidentally bumped into something.

I looked up and saw Kimber, her blond hair frizzy and ruffled, her smile wide and vicious, her eyes black and her pupils purple. "**dID yOU mIsS mE?**"


End file.
